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AN ADDRESS 



TO 



THE BRITISH PUBLIC, 

ON THE CASE OF 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL P1CTOX, 

LATE GOVERNOR AND CAPTAIN -GENERAL OF TILL ISLAND 
OF TRINIDAD; 

WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF 

WILLIAM FULLARTON, Esq. F.R.S. 



THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN SULLIVAN. 



By LIEUT. COL. EDWARD ALURED DRAPER, 

OF THE THIRD REGIMENT OF .FOOT GUARDS; 

Formerly 

MILITARY SECRETARY TO THE LATE GENERAL GRINFIELD, 

IN THE WEST INDIES. 



\ 



O magna vis Veritatis, quie contra hominum ingenia, callidifatem, 
solertiam, contraque Jictas omnium insidias facile se per se ipsam 
dei'endat ! Cic. pro M. Cceeio. 



p Hontion i 

MINTED BY D. JAQUES, 30, LOWER T3LQ ANE-STREET, 

And Sold by 
J. BUDD, Fa'/OKSEELER TO H. R. II. THE PRINCE OF WALES, 
AT THE CROWN AND MITRE, PALL MALL. 

1806. 



% 



V 




7 



/ 



2? . 7 




#71/ 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



IT may appear both superfluous and unnecessary to add any 
thing to the various important reasons which I have assigned 
for this publication in the body of the work. One yet remains, 
which I am sure my readers will not consider either superflu- 
ous or unnecessary in me to annex. 

When an attempt has been made to shut up the avenues 
to public information, and when that attempt can be proved 
to have been but too successful^ it demands a very serious 
notice. 

The honest industry used by Mr. Fullarton to disseminate 
his cruel slanders against Colonel Picton, required,, from all 
impartial men, that every fair opportunity should be afforded 
him to contradict and refute them. The charges brought 
forward were of an unpopular nature, ingeniously and pur- 
posely calculated and used to produce hatred and disgust ; 
and when these came to be powerfully assisted by national 
prejudice, it behoved that class of the community, who are 
the only regular channels to the public opinion, to be free, 
liberal, and impartial in their conduct to both sides. 
We shall see whether this impartial conduct has marked 
the proceedings of the Scotch booksellers on the occa- 
sion. 

When Colonel Picton published his letter to Lord Hobart, 
the late Colonial Secretary, and now Earl of Buckingham- 



shire, a friend desired his bookseller, Mr. Lloyd, of 
Harley-street, to send fifty copies of the letter to book- 
sellers in Edinburgh of the names of Manners and Miller. 
The copies were sent ; and the following is the answer which 
Mr. Lloyd received from them. 

" si*, Edinburgh, QHth Nov. 1804. 

<e We were favoured with yours of the 20th,. informing us 
te that you had sent us by the coach fifty copies of a pam- 
(( phlet, entitled e ' A Letter to Lord Hobart from General 
" Picton/ to be advertised and sold at Cs.. 6d. 

" We received the pamphlet yesterday ; but on looking 
" over it, we find it reflects too much on the Character of 
<( Colonel Fullarton, that we must beg leave to decline 
u having any concern in the publication. You will, perhaps, 
u be surprised at this ; but the fact is, we are very much con- 
" nected with the friends of Colonel Fullarton, and have so 
" great a respect for himself, that we should do ourselves a 
" very material injury by selling the pamphlet in question, 
« &c. ' 

(Signed) c< Manners ani> Miller/' 

" To Mr. Lloyd, Bookseller, Hurley-street." 

The Gentleman then desired Mr. Lloyd to write to a 
Mr. Creech, who, I understand, is reputed one of the most 
opulent and respectable booksellers in that country, also 
living in Edinburgh, and to request he would advertise and 
publish the letter. 

My friend was naturally a little suspicious of what might 
be rtiv result; and although Mr. Creech agreed to Mr. 



Vll 

Lloyd's proposal, yet from Mr. Creech stating in his letter 
that Mr. Fuilarton " was in his shop at the time the parcel 
(e containing the letters arrived," he requested Major 
M'Donnel, of the 83d regiment, to call at Creech's shop to 
purchase one of them. The following is an extract from the 
Major's letter on the subject. 

(( I called, according to your wish, at Creech's, to pur- 
u chase one of General Picton's letters, and was informed by 
(< the person in the shop, ( that it could not be sold.' " And 
Major M'Donnel, with that manliness so characteristic of 
him, adds, (C I consider the booksellers to have acted under 
" very despicable unmanly principles : however, it appears 
<c to me every object has been answered without them." 

(Signed) « C. M'Donnell." 

<* Edinburgh, Feb. 11, 1805." 

The publication of this letter was thus totally, and most 
unjustly, prevented in one very large and important quarter 
of the empire. 

I am not fond of national reflections. I love and esteem 
many Scotchmen ; some whom I am proud, and honored 
by being called their friend. A whole nation has, in ancient 
times, been saved on account of one good man. I do not 
wish, or mean, to arraign that nation ; and if it be any con- 
solation to the Scotch booksellers to know that on this side 
the Tweed, persons in nearly a similar line of business can do 
illiberal and unjust things, I insert an advertisement, which 
was brought by a friend of mine to the publishers of the 



VIII 

Morning Chronicle and the Morning Po3t ^ and a copy left 
at each office. The person, on his first visit, seeing a sort of 
reluctance, or indecision, in their assent to print it, said he 
would call again, requested them to consider it, and, if they 
agreed, he would pa y for it on his return. That night he- 
called at each office, but could get no answer ; the next day 
he called three different times, but could neither see the 
Ejditors, nor receive any answer. The advertisement, of 
course^ never appeared. 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

. " In the very interesting and important case e£ The King 
ic against Governor Picton, it is due to the justice of the 
<( country, that until the decision of the Court of King's 
f< Bench on the points reserved for its consideration be 
" known, all partial comments should be avoided, as we 
" understand, as soon as this determination is pronounced, 
<e the trial will be published from the accurate notes of a very 
fc eminent short hand writer ; when the public, then in full 
lC possession of every fact, will draw its conclusions with that 
" good sense and candour which form so distinguished and 
* honorable a feature in the national character." 

Here is no general or particular remark or observation, 
not a single word to influence public opinion. This then, 
I say, is illiberal conduct in any case, Scotch or "English ; 



* The Editors of both these papers are, as I am informed, Scotchmen 
it is clear that ihi y gaintd nothing by their transplantation. 



ia the present,, I hold it highly criminal. If the Editor^ 
know the circumstance, they should be ashamed of it; if 
they do not, which I very much doubt, it is right they should 
be made acquainted with it. It is one of the many base,, 
ungenerous, and unmanly ways, which has been practised 
towards Colonel Picton, to prejudice him and his cause, 
and to obstruct and prevent truth from getting admission to 
the public, It is a most serious injury to the national cha- 
racter, and well deserves stronger and more severe animad- 
version. Let them now " throw in a paragraph" if they 
think proper. We shall read it with perfect complacence,, 
careless whether it come " from authority" or not. ' 

Although" this Address was not intended for publication at 
so early a period of the business to which it relates, yet the 
scandalous use which has been made of a circumstance that 
occurred upon the trial, and in the Court of King's Bench, 
and which, it is allowed on all hands, was entirely of a new 
and unparalleled kind, has been productive of so much public 
mischief, has so irritated and prejudiced the temper and opi- 
nions of the larger part of the community, the, middling and 
lower classes., and has been turned to such vulgar and dis- 
honorable purposes by the enemies of Colonel Picton, 
ever on the watch to lay hold of any circumstance even less 
authoritative than that which issued from the Court, that I 
hold myself exonerated from, any imputation of haste, rash- 
ness, or unseasonableness, in now pi inting a work, which it 
is probable, but for these circumstances, I should hare 
deferred to a later period. The circumstance to which 
I allude is a. picture of Louisa Calderon on the picket, 



X 

I believe a coloured drawing, which was produced by Mr, 
Garrow, and shewn to the Jury, <( by way of explaining the 
" instrument of torture, and to shezo how and in what man* 
" ner she was placed upon it." Nothing else was meant: 
for Mr. G arrow, in my hearing, told the Noble Lord on the 
Bench, when he presented this delectable treat to Mademoi- 
selle Calderon, <( I wish the position of your Lordship could 
tf have enabled you to have seen the involuntary expression 
t( of the sensation of the witness on the inspection of the 
" drawing ;" Mr. Garrow no doubt intending that what he 
said to the Judge should not be heard by the Jury ; for in his 
speech afterwards he said, <c Gentlemen, With respect to the 
" picture which has been stated to have inflamed your minds, 
" &c, I ask nothing of your passions" — No, nothing at all. 
I don't w r ant you, Gentlemen, to witness " this involuntary 
iC expression of the witness's sensations" — This dramatic ex- 
hibition is reserved entirely for the entertainment of his Lord- 
ship. Mr. G. desires that You, Gentlemen of the Jury, 
should shut your eyes, and go to sleep a little, while the 
Noble Judge should not only be awake, but should change 
his position, and turn on the other side, to please Mr. G., 
and see and enjoy this farcical scene, which he had with so 
much taste and ingenuity invented for his Lordship's sole 
entertainment. The Noble and Learned Judge turned away 
from such mimickry ; he deprecated such tricks ; and ex- 
pressed a hope that no use would be made of it out of doors : 
yet the picture now before me is printed, and marked thus, 
" With a Plate of the Girl, Pulley, Spike, and the Grillos^ 
f( 4'c« i from a Drawing exhibited in Court. — Printed for 



XI 

" Crosby and Co., Stationers Court, Ludgate Street." — 
Such is the happy effect of Mr. Garrow's matchless inven- 
tion. It was not necessary for me to change my position 
to see the neat and adroit manner in which Mr. G. made this 
exhibition ; for I had the happiness and honor of being very 
near him, and I was, no doubt, astonished at the wonderful 
art and dexterity he displayed. Katterfelto or Breslaw could 
not have exceeded him. As the musicians speak, there was a 
fineness of finger in the elegant manner in which he first 
turned up this drawing ; of which no adept in legerdemain 
need be ashamed. The finger and the tongue too moved in 
such perfect unison, that not a performer amongst them 
could rival him. The effect was so sudden, so unexpected, so 
electric, so full of all the necessary qualities to call forth sur- 
prise, astonishment, and ({ delightful horror," that Burke him- 
self, if he were alive, would have gone to school again, and 
taken a lecture from him to add to the next edition of his 
" Sublime and Beautiful." I endeavour to smother the real 
honest indigrfation which I feel at this most unbecoming 
exhibition, by giving it an air of ridicule which is really very 
ill suited to, and inconsistent with, the subject. It should be 
stigmatized and condemned by every description of persons, 
as a disgrace to the Court, and a reflection on the known 
purity of its high character: It should be branded with every 
indignant epithet, and scouted from the possibility of such an 
unseemly representation ever again making its appearance in 
a tribunal, whose forms and practices should be of the most 
sacredly decorous order. Mr. G arrow should have rejected, 
that, while, in this case, he was seemingly only doing Punch 



XII 

in the show, and bringing out one of the puppets, or posture- 
masters, to make people wonder and stare, he was producing 
sensations and effects of another, very different, and more dan- 
gerous nature : like the bite of the Cobra de Capello, which 
Mr. G. will understand by the help of his Dictionary of 
Natural History, it had something of the magic effect, but 
more of the poisonous and deadly consequences, that follow 
the teeth of this venomous animal. But why should I won- 
der at Mi\G's various powers: he is an experienced trader 
in " hot and' cold," ancl I have very lately read an address of 
his, in which nothing could exceed the eloquence he display- 
ed, in impressing " impartiality" on the minds of the jury ; 
and I dare say that he believed himself in every word he said 
at the time. Like Mr. G., I too love ingenuous exercises, 
and like him I sometimes give shrewd opinions. I say then, 
that in my humble opinion, if Mr. G. possesses one faculty su- 
perior to another, it is VERS ATI LIT Y ; I think it transcend* 
his knowledge of metaphysics, of which I have given a very 
beautiful specimen in this work. He is really a Proteus, a 
word that by the help of his mythological learning, (which I 
am told is equal to his metaphysical,) he will understand the 
meaning of. An intellect like his is worthy of- a nice analy- 
sis, and if Mr. G. adds an expanded philanthropy to his other 
great qualities, when sooner or later his spirit visits the man- 
sions of peace, which for the happiness and quiet of this nether 
world, may Fate long forbid, he will direct his brain, together 
with the cranium to which it belongs, to be sent to the celebrated 
Dr. Gall, of Vienna, for the full and complete elucidation of that 
mdst vvcntlerful and useful science of craniology/u hich HIS pro- 



X1U 

found genius has also invented : it will be no doubt a great sa- 
tisfaction to his purer part, then to ascertain., what our im- 
purer minds here have only doubted, that an empty skull can 
furnish just as much talk as a full one. 

1 have said some coarse as well as some line things to Mr. 
G. in this book. I did not contemplate his character tho- 
roughly at that time,, or 1 should not have been serioudy an- 
gry with him. However., he has often transgressed himself 
in this way, and like all old incorrigible sinners, is no doubt 
of an allowing temper and disposition. Now that I do pre- 
tend to know him better, ' and to think very little of what- 
ever he may say, I promise never to be in a rage again. 
Whenever he " snatches a grace beyond the reach of art," as 
in the beautiful metaphysical distinction alluded to, he will 
pardon me, if I always consider it my duty to record his fe- 
licities with fidelity : but when he gets to the chin, and floun- 
ders in the mud of Spanish law, then indeed, 

<c Laugh when we must, be witty where we can, 
But vindicate the ways of man to man" 

My poetry will relieve his mind, perhaps, after some ela- 
borate and recondite metaphysical research, and wishing to 
put him in a musical humor, and in good temper, I beg leave 
to offer him the above distich, <c pour s'amuser," which by 
the help of his French dictionary, he will be able soon to 
-translate. 



XIV 

The CASES OF THREE GENTL EM EN who have 
taken a very active and honorable part in the affairs of Colonel 
Picton, and which will be found in the Appendix, No. XIV. 
XV. and XVI. I should certainly apologize to my reader for 
polluting my paper with; but I hold that there "is no other mode 
so effectual of undeceiving the public, as by publishing the 
names of all those persons, and the circumstances of the crimes 
of which they have been found guilty. This is a proof positive 
as to their reputation, and the sort and kind of credit or be- 
lief,, which their assertions should obtain in this country, in 
any thing connected with the case of Colonel Picton ; — In- 
deed it will be that species of reply, and that only, which I 
shall ever give, to whatever they, or other persons of a simi- 
lar class, may have the impudence or effrontery to make to 
what I have stated in this letter, and I am determined firmly 
to adhere to this resolution, be the author who he may. 



It is necessary to observe, that there is a strength of ex- 
pression in many parts of this statement, and a rudeness, if I 
may so call it, of language, which in any other case or situ- 
ation, I should have held myself reprehensible for having 
used. I feel the more inclined to make this admission, when 
I consider the many noble personages into whose hands it wilt 
come. The language and conduct due from one gentleman 
to another, I trust it will be allowed me by those noble per- 
sons, that from my rank and situation in life, I ought and do 
understand. The case here however is not between TWO 



XV 



gentlemen ; and although I do not hold this as any excuse for 
an infringement of the proprieties of conduct and discourse, 
yet it will l?e recollected that there was inseparably attached 
to my work, an office most irksome, but most indispensa- 
ble; — the exposition of vulgar vice, and malignant calumny; 
— the detection of mean hypocrisy, of wanton malice, and 
insidious fraud. I am not experienced in this sort of work ; 
it is my first, and I trust it will be my last effort ; it will there- 
fore, I hope, be pardoned me by those noble persons, if in the 
exposition of some new turpitude, I sometimes gave way to 
the expression of feelings in words, perhaps more remarkable 
for the strong signification of the idea, than the elegance or 
beauty of their selection. It will, I think, be allowed, that 
I have traversed through ways new and unknown to me, and 
if I have designated the leading places in my road, by harsh 
and coarse sounding appellations, those only are to be con- 
demned who went before, and first affixed the uncouth and 
unseemly epithets*. 

One word more, and I have done. 

The variety and correctness of the information contained in 
this book, may lead some to imagine, that Colonel Picton 
piay have been connected with me in its composition. I 



* One specimen will suffice. — " The most atrocious malefactor (al- 

* lading to Colonel Picton,) who ever disgraced the English name and 

• character, invested with any portion of public authority." 

Vide page 90, of Mr. Fullarton's first quarto. 



XVI 

Ihink proper therefore to say, that I never have communi- 
cated with him on the subject, that I have never shewn him 
a single page of it ; and as to his lawyers or legal acquain- 
tances, I flatter myself that the work bears sufficiently strong 
iaternal evidence, that their advice or information has in no 
instance been ever asked or resorted to. 



As the last sheet of this Address was printed off, the au- 
thor learned that Colonel Picton had printed the depositions 
so often quoted in this work, with a letter addressed to Sir 
Samuel Hood, K. B. He assures the public, that the co- 
incidence in the time of appearance of both publications, is 
entirely accidental, (Colonel Picton having never intimated 
to him his intentions.) The circumstance of the publisher 
being the same, is equally accidental', another publisher 
having been originally employed to print and publish his 
work; zvhich, hozoever, in the course of it, the author 
thought necessary to change. He conceives it extremely for* 
tunatefor his statement, that the public have now an op* 
portunity to recur to a printed copy of the whole of that 
evidence. 

AprilZl, 180$. 



TO 

THE BRITISH PUBLIC 



* ci A clear unblemished character comprehends not only 
the integrity that will not offer, but the spirit that will not 
submit to an injury ; and whether it belongs to an indivi- 
dual, or to a community, it is the foundation of peace, of 
independence, and of safety. Private credit is private 
wealth, public honor is security. The feathers that adorn, 
the Royal Bird support his flight; strip him of his plumage, 
and you fix him to the earth." 

Junius. 



I PREFACE my address to the PEOPLE OF 
ENGLAND with this short but strong declara- 
tion, that if there be one respectable or honora- 
ble man in the kingdom, who will convict me of 
having wilfully misrepresented, nay I will go 
further, of having exaggerated, or extenuated 
any of the facts which I shall think it my duty 
to bring forward in the following statement, I 
do here solemnly pledge myself publickly to 
acknowledge my mistake, and to make atone- 
ment for my error, by a full and unequivocal 
recantation. 

To persons of any other class, or character, 
I have resolutely determined never to ftft£M 



2 

the smallest reply ; and as to those who may 
choose to come forward in the way of ano- 
nymous defenders, I shall make this observation, 
which I hope they will bear in mind, and 
not lose sight of, that as I never shall 
state any important fact on my own authority, 
nor adduce any remark in which I shall not be 
supported by evidence of unquestioned integrity, 
I shall therefore take no notice whatever of 
any replies or observations, however daring, 
however plausible, or however ingenious, that 
do not come fortified by evidence and autho- 
rities of equal respectability to those which I 
shall myself adduce. It was my original in- 
tention to have confined, as it was my right so 
to do, this privilege to those only, who like 
myself, affix their names to their publications. 
But with a confidence of the strength, the 
rectitude, and honor of the cause which \ take 
up my feeble pen to defend, conscious of my 
perfect knowledge of that case, I here enlarge 
the limits of the privilege, and I re-assert, 
that if any anonymous person chooses to 
enter the lists, and fortifies his assert io?is by 
evidence and authorities of equal respectability 
to those which I shall adduce, I here engage 
to answer him. But in no other case shall I 
ever write a single line, or take the smallest no- 
tice of what may be printed, or published. 



Insubmi tting this appeal to the British pub- 
lic, I claim the allowances clue to a soldier, who 
having served in different situations, in different 
countries, and in different climates, and, who, 
in clischaro'ino- the duties of those stations to 
which he was called, has had few opportunities 
of applying himself to literary pursuits, or cul- 
tivating a taste for classical erudition; of 
my learning therefore I say nothing, and I 
purposely do so, because most thoroughly 
conscious of my deficiencies : indeed I am 
quite certain, that the -informed reader will 
have perceived even before he shall have 
read the sentence which I now write, that 
Syntax and prosody have not been my favor- 
ite studies, and that I am unskilled in the 
knowledge and beauties of composition. I 
solicit indulgence however on this score, (not 
that I do not consider it in some measure the 
duty of any man who addresses the public, 
to dictate his sentiments not only in the lan- 
guage, but in the style of a gentleman, who 
certainly ought to be a scholar,) but that 
engaged in a military course of life, it has not 
been in my power to attend to those depart- 
ments of literature, which serve to polish the 
style to purity and perfection, and which give 
an interest to a writer's narrative, which a 

b 2 



person, unqualified as I am in these respects*; 
cannot hope to attain. I never should have of- 
fered these rem arks. or observations, if upon reflec- 
tion I were not fully convinced, that the moment- 
ous subject on which I have now resolved to 
address the British Empire, did not imperiously 
call upon me, as a man, as a friend, and I 
shall add, " last but not least," as a soldier, 
who has the honor of his king and country sin- 
cerely and unaffectedly at heart, who has given 
indisputable proofs of the loyalty and zeal 
with which he is, and ever has been animated, 
and who is now actuated by the purest inten- 
tions both to the honor of the service, and the 
welfare of his country, to give a full, and im- 
partial statement of a question, which, if either 
mistaken or not thoroughly understood, may 
in one moment eclipse the reputation, totally 
blast the hopes, utterly destroy the fortune, 
and break the spirit of any officer, who in 
similar circumstances, may not possess the 
extraordinary fortitude of mind, the firm con- 
stitution of body, and the large pecuniary as- 
sistance of friends, which the subject of the 
present address, Colonel Picton, has fortun- 
ately for himself, and eventually, I trust, for 
the interest and honor of the British army, 
shewn himself possessed of on this most novel 
and most trying occasion. 



These are my motives and reasons for under- 
taking the task which I have assigned to my- 
self; they will be quite sufficient, I am certain, 
to the mind of every generous, and liberal man ; 
but for another class of persons/ for those 
whose heads are better than their hearts, and 
for those who I hope form a more numerous 
class in society, and require that their informa- 
tion should be enlarged as well as their hearts 
expanded, for those two classes I have ano- 
ther and a- different answer, which my work 
will, I flatter myself, bear me out in giving 
them, with that confidence which a laborious, 
unwearied, and impartial application to the 
subject should inspire ; it is this, that feeling 
and believing that I understand this case, that 
is, as far as an Englishman can be informed 
upon a subject foreign to the pursuit perhaps of 
the most studious scholar, or the most gene- 
rally informed man in the kingdom, I hope to 
be able so to dispose my matter (for argument, 
as the question stands, 1 shall not have very 
great occasion for,) as to render the question 
intelligible to every man of common sense, or 
discernment. This is all I aim at ; my reflec- 
tions shall be short, and concise ; I intend no- 
thing more than giving to the public just and 
honest information, leaving it to that public to 



make its own deductions with the impartialk 
ty, generosity, and candour, which certainly 
characterize the ultimate decisions of the great 
mass of the BRITISH NATION. 

It is idle to say, or to wish that the 
subject had been taken up by abler hands ; I 
am satisfied that to be discussed, and dis- 
cussed perhaps by some persons of the best 
talents and information in the country, the 
business requires only that it should, be pub- 
licly known, and understood ; at present it is 
known only to be misunderstood, and mis- 
represented. As for myself, I shall not be 
discredited when I say, if I conceived that 
abilities, mean perhaps and moderate as 
mine are, could be of the least disservice to 
the cause of Colonel Picton, I should never 
have hazarded the character of a sincere, 
but incautious friend : I have well weighed 
the ground on which he stands, and with 
every consideration of friendship, of prudence, 
with a minute and scrupulous attention to the 
whole of his case, I have ventured this, pub- 
lication to. the people of England, firmly 
and confidently relying on the sentence which 
they shall pronounce upon it. 



Having thus announced my intention to discuss 
a point of Colonel Picton's administration, the 
consequences of any ignorance, or any misun- 
derstanding of which may be, as I have before 
said, in one moment fatal to the peace of mind, 
to the future hopes, or the private fortunes of 
any officer, who may find himself placed in si- 
milar circumstances, I consider it totally un- 
necessary to enter into any account of the 
opportunities I have had of obtaining infor- 
mation upon that particular point. I do as- 
sert that on this question " Whoever runs 
may read ;" the authorities which I give are 
in a great measure open to any gentleman, 
who will take the trouble, as I have done, 
of looking into them. But when I speak of 
the general conduct of Colonel Picton during 
his arduous command, as Governor and Cap- 
tain General of Trinidad, it may, in that case, 
be right and proper to inform the public from 
what sources or opportunities of information 
I derive my opinions. I think it requisite 
therefore to state, that I was appointed by the 
late Lieutenant General Grinfield Comman- 
der of the Forces in the Windward and Lee- 
ward Charibbee Islands, &c. to the confiden- 
tial situation of Military Secretary, that I 
attended him to that country, and during the 
performance of my duties ia that depart- 



ment, I had the satisfaction of accompanying 
him to Trinidad on a military inspection of 
that Island: I afterwards had the honor of 
accompanying him on the different successful 
Expeditions which took place during his com- 
mand, (in which Colonel Picton had a dis- 
tinguished share,) and was selected to bring 
home the dispatches announcing the conquests 
achieved under his orders, which procured me 
the rank of Major in the Army. There is. 
no officer in the service, I will be bold to 
say, who is not well aware of the various 
opportunities which the situation of Military 
Secretary presents, of attaining correct infor- 
mation on every subject connected with the 
whole range of military Duties in the "West 
India Islands ; the knowledge, both local and 
general, of place and position; the account, 
both personal and epistolaiy, of persons and 
circumstances ; in short, it embraces in its 
range the comprehensive extent of every trans- 
action occurring in every part of this widely 
extended Archipelago, and presents to the 
curious or inquisitive mind not only the best 
opportunities for knowing the present trans- 
actions, but by connecting him in close re- 
lation with all those persons who have pre- 
ceded him in many high official Departments, 
affords him the surest means of ascertaining with 



truth and exactness, the history of every 
preceding business, which from any motive 
he may be tempted to examine. What use 
I have made of these advantages in encreas- 
ing the stock of my information as an officer, 
it would be most unbecoming in me to say : 
I have not failed in diligence ; on that ground, 
my recollections afford me much satisfaction. 
The invaluable connexions I had the oppor- 
tunity of forming there, are my prime sources 
of pleasure; and if I may be permitted here 
to indulge this pleasing reflection, the liberal 
reader will surely pardon me, when he learns, 
that it was by my official situation in the 
West Indies I had the happiness to become 
acquainted with the distinguished subject of 
this letter, that it was through that dear and 
honorable connexion that I am called to raise 
my voice in a cause, which adds to the charac- 
ter of every man who takes a part in it's de- 
fence, and that through the same channel I had 
the honor of associating myself in friendship 
with names, that will live in the hearts of 
the people of England, and in its history for 
ever, with Major General Frederick Maitland, 
and Sir Samuel Hood, and many others, whose 
lives and whose deaths have formed examples 
truly worthy of the imitation of every Bri^ 
tjsh Officer, 



ID 



STATEMENT. 



Colonel Picton entered the army in the year 
1771 as an ensign in the 12th regiment of 
foot : he served in Gibraltar under Generals Sir 
Robert Boyd, and Lord Heathfield, from the 
year 1773 to 1778. He got his company in the 
75th regiment, of which his uncle, General Pic- 
ton, now a full general in the army, was then 
colonel, and to whom, his Majesty, in the most 
gracious manner, and without the smallest 
solicitation on the part of the general, or I 
believe, any expectation of so distinguished 
a mark of royal favor, gave the colonelcy of 
the 12th regiment, with this most distin- 
guished proof of royal approbation when he 
went to court to kiss hands on his appoint- 
ment. For the honor of the Sovereign it 
should be recorded, and I trust that General 
Picton will pardon me for inserting it with- 
out his approbation. The Sovereign, on the 
general's approaching him said, " General, do 
you know to whose recommendation you are 
indebted for the colonelcy of the 12th re- 
giment ? The General bowed to the Sovereign 
in his usual dignified manner, " To Captain 



II 

Picton of the grenadiers of the 12th regi«< 
merit, for his gallant conduct in Germany."* 

Colonel Picton remained a captain for the 
long period of sixteen years, from 1778 to 
1794. In 1783 he commanded the seventy- 
fifth regiment, then quartered in Bristol, and 
by an intrepidity of conduct, and a daring 
resolution of mind, which on every perilous 
emergency mark the character and features 
of superior men, quelled a mutiny which 
broke out in that regiment, and which from 
the complexion that it assumed in the very 
short space of time that his determined 
courage permitted it to subsist, promised the 
most disastrous consequences.' For this noble 
example of a true military spirit,' he received 
the royal approbation through the then com- 
mander in chief Field Marshal „ Conway. 

Fiom the year 17^83, when his regiment 
was reduced, Captain Picton remained on half 
pay until the year 1794, and resided chiefly 

* The General's masterly disposition of a small detach- 
ment, which he then commanded, as captain of the 12th 
Regiment, was particularly noticed by Prince Ferdinand 
when he visited his post, and being reported by the Prince 
In high terms of commendation to the Commander in Chief, 
it was immediately put into general orders. 



u 

without any solicitation whatever, recom- 
mended him for the lieutenant colonelcy of the 
fifty-sixth regiment. From St. Lucia Colonel 
Picton sailed with Sir Ralph on the expedi-^ 
tion to St Vincents, which was taken by 
storm. Upon the conclusion of this short 
but brilliant campaign, Colonel Picton went 
with Sir Ralph to Martinique, and from 
thence to England, where they arrived to* 
gether in September 1796'. * 

Sir Ralph again sailed for the West Indies 
in November of the same year, attended by 
Colonel Picton, and arrived in Martinique in 
the iatU; • end of January 1797- The expedi- 
tion against Trinidad being at this time deter- 
mined on, the armament sailed for that island 
in the following month, and the conquest of 
the Colony being completed, Colonel Picton 
was, without any recommendation, or even the 
least previous notification, appointed by the 
commander in chief to the government of 
that island in general orders; and when he 
waited on Sir Ralph to return his acknow- 
ledgments, the answer of that great man is 
worthy of being recorded : it was, " Colonel 
Picton if I knew any officer, who in my 
opinion would discharge the duties annexed 
to this situation better than you, to him 



15 

would I have given it: there are no thanks 
due to me for it." 

I have judged it right and necessary to take 
this short review of the military career of 
Colonel Picton, and of the rise and progress 
of his connexion with Sir Ralph Abercromby, 
a character, which, for the practice of every 
public and private virtue, ranks so high in 
the estimation of mankind, that I shall not 
diminish the little place I hold in the literary. 
world, by presuming to add one shade more 
of colour to that already highly finished picture. 
It is enough for my present purpose and the 
honor of Colonel Picton, that it should be 
known to the world, that he lived in the re- 
membrance of that immortal name to the hour 
of his glorious death, as appears by a letter 
which the colonel received from him in his way 
to the last scene of his triumphal career. 

Before I proceed to the immediate subject of 
my letter, I conceive it also necessary to state 
to the British public, a few of the public acts of 
Sir Ralph Abercromby before he left the island 
of Trinidad. This is indispensable to their 
rightly understanding the proceedings which 
were subsequently taken, and built upon those 



14 

without any solicitation whatever, recom- 
mended him for the lieutenant colonelcy of the 
fifty-sixth regiment. From St. Lucia Colonel 
Picton sailed with Sir Ralph on the expedi- 
tion to St. Vincents, which was taken by- 
storm. Upon the conclusion of this short 
but brilliant campaign, Colonel Picton went 
with Sir Ralph to Martinique, and from 
thence to England, where they arrived to~ 
gether in September 1 796*. * 

Sir Ralph again sailed for the West Indies 
in November of the same year, attended by 
Colonel Picton, and arrived in Martinique in 
the Sat i£ : end of January 1797. The expedi- 
tion against Trinidad being at this time deter- 
mined on, the armament sailed for that island 
in the following month, and the conquest of 
the Colony being completed, Colonel Picton 
was, without any recommendation, or even the 
least previous notification, appointed by the 
commander in, chief to the government of 
that island in general orders; and when lie 
waited on Sir Ralph to return his acknow- 
ledgments, the answer of that great man is 
worthy of being recorded: it was, " Colonel 
Picton if I knew any officer, who in my 
opinion would discharge the duties annexed 
to this situation better than you, to him 



15 

would I have given it: there are no thanks 
due to me for it." 

I have judged it right and necessary to take 
this short review of the military career of 
Colonel Picton, and of the rise and progress 
of his connexion with Sir Ralph Abercromby, 
a character, which, for the practice of every 
public and private virtue, ranks so high in 
the estimation of mankind, that I shall not 
diminish the little place I hold in the literary. 
world, by presuming to add one shade more 
of colour to that already highly finished picture. 
It is enough for my present purpose and the 
honor of Colonel Picton, that it should be 
known to the world, that he lived in the re- 
membrance of that immortal name to the hour 
of his glorious death, as appears by a letter 
which the colonel received from him in his way 
to the last scene of his triumphal career. 

Before I proceed to the immediate subject of 
my letter, I conceive it also necessary to state 
to the British public, a few of the public acts of 
Sir Ralph Abercromby before he left the island 
of Trinidad. This is indispensable to their 
rightly understanding the proceedings which 
were subsequently taken, and built upon those 



M 

acts of His. It is known I believe to every 
man in this country, that the island capitulated 
leaving the terms to the conqueror. Sir Ralph 
was a wise man, and an acute judge of human 
nature, as well as a great officer; he had pre- 
vious information of the kind and class of peo- 
ple of which the island was composed ; his In- 
structions from his Majesty's government on 
this point, I believe, ran thus : 



EXTRACT. 

u THE Island of Trinidad is pointed out 
as the source of great mischief to the British 
Islands, being a shelter for privateers who 
annoy their trade, and affords an asylum for 
bad people of every description, who man the 
privateers and row boats, which make depre- 
dations upon the coasts, carrying off slaves 
and property : it is therefore recommended to 
Sir Ralph Abercromby, if he can collect a suf- 
ficient force without exposing the British Islands, 
to make an attack upon Trinidad, and if the 
force he can spare should not be sufficient to 
keep possession after he has taken it, to make 
the attack notwithstanding, for the purpose of 
destroying or carrying away all military stores 



17 

<c and arms that he may find there, and to seize 
" upon, and to send to England, the Brigands 
<c and mischievous people who have made that 
u Island their home"'' 

In his conduct and demeanor to a population 
so strongly described and characterized as it is 
here by the government instructions, and in 
obeying the dictates of his own humane heart, 
Sir Ralph well knew, that capitulatory terms 
bearing such broad and incontrovertible fea- 
tures of generosity and magnanimity, as could 
neither be misunderstood nor misinterpreted by 
the meanest person in the island, were the 
surest mode of securing the confidence and per- 
manent submission of all classes of the inhabi- ' 
tants, he therefore issued a proclamation on the 
landing of the troops, in which he granted them 
gratuitously, and without any stipulation what- 
ever, the exercise of their own laws, and the 
institutions that subsisted previous to the sur- 
render. This was his first act. 

From the weakness of the former govern- 
ment, accustomed to little else than to divisions 
and duplicity, the vices of chicanery and cor- 
ruption prevailed to an enormous extent in the 
different courts of judicature, and individuals 

C 



had found it so ruinous to apply for justice 
even in affairs of the most simple nature, 
that the execution of the laws had been 
nearly suspended for twelve months before 
Sir Ralph Abercromby's arrival. I have 
pledged myself to refer my readers for any 
important fact which I state, to unquestion- 
able authority ; the sources of this informa- 
tion are, Messrs. Lynch, Farfan, Begorrat, and St. 
Pe, all magistrates, and planters of high respect, 
who had lived in the colony for many years before 
the capture, and who- have deposed upon oath 
to this effect. Sir Ralphs for the short 
time that he remained in the island, was 
beset by a croud of complainants, and im- 
portuned with representations of the base and' 
corrupt practices of the assessor* of the 
former government, which being proved on a 



~- 



* As mention is frequently made in the course of this 
narration of the alcaldes, escrivanos, and assessors, it may 
not be improper to give some idea here of their respective 
duties. 

The Spanish courts of justice consist of the tribunal of 
government composed of the governor and his assessor^ 
and the tribunals of the senior and junior alcaldes in or« 
•iinary ? both of equal jurisdiction. 



19 

rigid examination of the facts to be but too true, 
Bte Commander in Chief came to the resolution 
of annulling that office in to to, and an En- 
glish gentleman* Mr. Nihell, who had filled 
the situation of alcalde of the first election, 
who perfectly understood the Spanish lan- 
guage from a residence of many years in 
the colony, being recommended to him as a 
fit and proper person to fill a judicial situa- 
tion, he created him chief judge of the 



The office of Alcalde Senior and Junior is contra-dis- 
tinguished from that of an English justice of peace, by his 
carrying on all processes, civil and criminal, to the definitive 
sentence, with the assistance of an Assessor, but which sen- 
tence he is not empowered to execute without the decree 
and signature of the governor, who is called supreme judge. 
—He is sometimes called Judge Lego, as not being ©f the 
profession of the law. 

An Escriva?to is a public scrivener, whose attestation is 
requisite to all public decrees, or definitive sentences in ju- 
dicial procedures, and to all public instruments of writing 
whatever. — Their offices are the depositaries of the public 
records. 

An Official Assessor is a graduated advocate appointed 
by government to accompany the ordinary judge in his deci- 
sions and sentences, and whose signature relieves the judge 
from all kind of responsibility. 



20 

island ; an office never before known in the 
country, and he drew up with his own hand 
a code of instructions by which, he was to 
govern himself, and of which the following 
is a correct copy. To those instructions I 
beg my reader's most particular attention. 



INSTRUCTIONS. 

et General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K.B. ; 
" Commander in Chief of his Ma- 
" jesty's Forces in the windward 
cc and leeward Charibbee Islands, &c. 
(C &c. 

t Niheii " The island of Trinidad having submitted 
tinted <c to ^ s M a j^ st y' s arms, by the power 
jud 6 ' " anc * authority vested in me, by these pre- 

" sents 1 nominate you John Nihell, Esq. 

" to be Chief Judge and Auditor* (during his 

* The offices of chief judge and auditor were distinct, and 
had no relation to each other, although the general here 
unites them. The office of auditor was also distinct from that 
of assessor ; it had no judicial functions, notwithstanding both 
were held by Don Juan Jurado ; assessor to the former 
governor. 



21 

" Majesty's pleasure) over all and every part 

" of the said island, and you are hereby re- 

" quired and commanded to perform and ex- ^^com! 

u ecute all manner of things appertaining to ^teS? 

■ c the aforesaid offices, conformably to the in- p°J t ° n n e t l 

" structions and powers you shall receive 

" from me through the Lieutenant Colonel 

cc Picton, whom I have appointed governor 

cc of the said island; and whose instructions Appointed 

" and powers are to be considered of equal 

" force as if given under my hand. And as 

" there was no stipulation (in the capitu- Spanish 

1 x l laws con- 

c( lation) in favor of the Spanish laws in tmuedby 

J m r SirR.Aber- 

" the administration of justice, and as they cromb/a 

* . J circular let- 

" were merely continued by my circular let- ter,& c . 

" ter to the commandants of quarters, ma- 

" gistrates, &c. in order to avoid the con- 

Se fusion which mio-ht result from too strict Special au- 

thority to 

w an adherence to the forms of that iurispru- depart from 

X the forms of 

« dence, under an English government, you the Spanish 

< c will receive particular instructions from Lieu- * 

" tenant Colonel Picton explanatory of my in- 

*' tentions. 



" And as I have judged it expedient to- Suspension 

1? • i 7 of the as- 

cc suspend from his employment, the Assessor sessorgene- 

/^ n ra '« an d of 

^ {reneraly and not to name any one to nlr the office 



1 



23 
instructions « that office in his stead, you are ordered 

to proceed 

without an " to proceed in all causes, whether .civil, or 

assessor. . . . , 

<e criminal, without any assessor, although it 

judgement i€ may be contrary to the form and spirit 

vTthoutan " of the Spanish laws. And I hereby declare 

rhouXcon- " that all sentences given and signed by 



Spanishiaw, " y ou without the accompany merit of an Asses- 
withstand- " sor , shd'tt h ave ^ w same force ond validity as 
"g^ " if they were so accompanied, and shall be 

"■ executed in the same com mm and ordinary. 

"form. 

<s And as I have received serious complaints 

" of the extortions practised by the exaction 

*'■ of excessive fees, and the malapplication of 

u useless and unnecessary proceedings in the 

€( administration of justice by the escrivanos, 

tolh^JteB " attornies, &c. You are hereby required 

fyproTeed- " 1° shorten and simplify the proceedings, and 

ings * % to terminate all causes in the most expedi- 

a tious and least expensive manner that the 

4i circumstances of them will admit, accord - 

?* ing to the dictates of your conscience, the 

? c best of your abilities, and conformably to 

" the instructions you shall receive from Lieu- 

" tenant Colonel Picton, although it should' 

&■ be contrary to the usual practice of the 



«£3 
* Spanish government. And I also give you Authority 

„ ' t / to punish 

M full power and authority to suspend from officers of 

. . the courts 

" their employments all ^e&erivanos, attormes, forextor- 
u or other officers who shall be guilty of 
i( extortion, contumacy, or centra vention of 
u your decrees. 



" In all civil causes the parties are to fee 
■" allowed an appeal from your tribunal to 
" the King in council, when the matter in 
" litigation exceeds 500/. sterling. And in l^t^t 
■ a all Ciiminal causes the appeal is to the J^vem- 
" Governor, and no sentence to fe executed un- J^jS^ 
* til approved of by him. tences ' 



" Given under my hand and seal in the 
" Port of Spain , island of Trinidad, 
" this first day of March, in the year 
" 1797. 

(Signed,) " R. Aberckomby. 

(C By order of his Excellency, 

ic Frederick Maitland, 
«< Secretary. 51 



24 

This was the second important ' act of the 
Commander in Chief, all the other arrange- 
ments being subsidiary, and of a secondary 
nature. Sir Ralph sailed for Martinique, 
leaving Colonel Picton in the possession of 
his arduous government. I shall now very 
briefly mention the general state and popula- 
tion of the island at this period. From the 
accurate survey and map given by Mr. Mal- 
let, it appears that the total population of 
the island in 1797 amounted to 17,718 per- 
sons, of which number 2,151 were white 
people, English, Spanish, and French; 4,476 
were Mulattos, or as they are called people 
of color of different countries, French, Span- 
ish, &c. ; 10,009 slaves, and 1,082 Indians. 

The proportion of whites, as follows, 

English 610. 

Spanish 5 05. 

French 1,036. 

In 1801 the population had increased to 
24,239, and in 1802, the year before Colonel 
Picton left the settlement, it had increased 
to 28,477; 2,26l of whom were white peo- 
ple, 5,275 free colored people, 19,709 were 
slaves, and 1,232 Indians. 



25 

I have noW stated from the best authority 
the amount of the population, and the pro- 
portion which the numbers of Spanish, French, 
English, Mulattos, and Slaves bore to each 
other at the periods when Colonel Picton as- 
sumed, and relinquished the government. I 
have also already stated the character which 
the Commander in Chief received of this 
mixed population from the most authentic 
of all documents, the instructions of the En- 
glish government, (vide page 16,) and to 
evince how well founded this description was, 
and to shew from the most irrefragable proofs 
the kind and quality of his Majesty's new 
subjects in Trinidad, whom the Commander 
in Chief had given over to the government 
of Colonel Picton. I annex a document 
which no man can object to; it is an ex- 
tract from the laws of Grenada passed in 
1784, vol. 3, page 232. 



EXTRACT. 

iC An act for apprehending suspected per- 
sons coming from Trinidad:'' Preamble. 
c Whereas the scandalous practice of carry in °* 
* off slaves by persons who have mortgaged 



4 the same, or who are otherwise largely lm« 

* debted, and the stealing of slaves out of 
4 the legal possession of others, have been of 
■ late years frequent, and proved ruinous to 
4 particular creditors, and injurious to the 

* general credit of this Colony, And whereas 
€ the persons guilty of such robberies and 

* frauds have found and continue to find a 

* refuge and asylum in the island of Trinidad 
1 for the slaves so taken away, and all ap- 
' plications made to the governor of that 

* island, or to the court of Spain, Jhave hi- 
( therto proved fruitless/ 

Again, same act, clause 8. is the follow- 
ing preamble. ' And whereas some persons 
■• have come from Trinidad and lurked in these 

* islands, for the purpose of seducing and carry- 
€ ing off' slaves, and other persons residing in 
4 Trinidad have sent artful negro or mulatto 

* slaves for the like purpose, and it is but 
c just and reasonable to proceed with the great- 

* est rigor, against those who reside on the very 

* spot which holds out a retreat for fraudulent 
' debtors, and stealers of slaves, and where no, 
% redress or justice can be had /' It then enacts, 

* That persons coming from Trinidad shall give 

* bond on their arrival in 1000/. sterling, tp b$ 



* of good behaviour • and if such bond is not 
6 given, such person to be declared a vagabond^ 
' and without any other proof than that of usual 
< > or frequent residence in Trinidad, to be com- 
f mitted to goal.' The same act also enacts 
that ' if any slave reputed to belong to persons 
~ residing in Trinidad, shall not procure security, 

* he shall be whipped and sent to gaol for st$ 
i months, and the bonds of masters of domes*- 
5 tics coming from Trinidad to extend to ser 
f cure the good con4uct of such domestics/ 

In a previous act, passed in March 1784, to 
render process in chancery effectual, it reciter 
I Inasmuch as many mortgagors, and other 

* necessary parties to suits have for many yea^s 
f past escaped to Trinidad, 9 

The first act is still in force, and Trinidadian$ 
pfany description, going to G renada, are liable 
to be apprehended as vagabonds. 

The reader has now before him, from sources 
totally unobjectionable, an account of the num- 
ber, the proportions, the kind and quality of 
his Majesty's new subjects of the colony of 
Trinidad. He has also had pointed out to 
him ? the two measures which may be consi- 



28 

dered of prime importance executed by the Com- 
mander in Chief, before he left the island, 
that is, a proclamation granting the conquered 
people their ancient laws and institutions, and 
secondly, the suspension of an indispensable and 
indeed vital office, or officer in the old and for- 
mer government, I mean, the Assessor, and the 
creation of a new and unknown office, that of 
Chief Judge, with extraordinary powers, in the; 
person of Mr. Nihell, (vide page 20 ) 

I now come~to the acts of the government of 
Colonel Picton, but before I proceed to point 
out any of the first steps of his administra- 
tion, I shall give the state of the military force 
which he had to preserve the order and peace 
of the new establishment. I take this from the 
monthly state given in at the Commander in 
Chief's office, dated September 1, 1797- 

Fit for Dut3'. 
57th Regiment 269 

Detachment ofHompesch's or foreigners 131 

Ditto of Soters French negroes- .,,-, 9& 

Total 498 

Vide Monthly State, Appendix, No. O' 

There was no militia at the time. 



29 



COLONEL PICTON'S GOVERNMENT. 

GENERAL Sir Ralph Abercromby sailed from 
Trinidad on the 28th February 1797, and on the 
first of March Colonel Picton assumed the reins 
of gorernment. 

The state and condition of the Island, thus 
surrendered to his power and protection at 
this period, cannot be better described than 
by giving a copy of an Address which was 
presented to him on the fifth day of April 
following, and signed by a great majority of 
the most respectable inhabitants of all nations, 

ADDRESS 

To his Excellency Thomas Picton, Esq. Go- 
vernor and Commander in Chief of the Island of 
Trinidad, $$c. 8$c. 

" May it please your excellency, 

" The last governor of this colony for his 
" Catholic Majesty, perhaps too much occupied 



*' in the last moments of the reduction of the 
•* island, obtained from the conqueror by the 
66 capitulation,- the ratification of all the acts 
<c previously passed under the Spanish govern* 
*' nient, but forgot to demand the continuation 
* e of our laws ; a thing the more necessary, as 
" the establishment of new ones, (however good 
" they might be) might occasion the greatest 
" disorder. This inconvenience could not escape 
'**■ the penetration of his excellency Sir Ralph 
" Abercromby, (whose humanity and disinter* 
*' estedness cannot be sufficiently praised, ) and 
iC in the course of a few days after the capita?- 
♦* lation, he was pleased to issue a Proclamation, 
*' declaring this favorable resolution : — a re'solu- 
il tion which increased if possible the gratitude 
" of the inhabitants of this island, already so' 
** much indebted to him for the wise measures 
" he adopted at the conquest, to preserve them 
" from the horrors generally attendant on war. 

" The zeal which your excellency has invaria- 
" bly displayed for the preservation of the co- 
u lony, and the welfare of its inhabitants, has 
H insured you for ever their confidence, and in-- 
** duces them to take the liberty of laying be- 
* fore you some observations, which they think 



m 

A of consequence towards securing to them until 
" the peace, the possession of their property, 
<c for the preservation of which you have proved 
*' your anxiety. 

" That assemblage of men of justice, of whom 
" the majority doubtless offered a corruption of 
" which no other colony could furnish exam- 
" pies, and whose iniquities and horrors have 
" exceeded those of all governments known to 
(k us : — *those shameful and permanent violations 
" of all the laws of the Indies, and others of 
" the kingdom by which his Catholic Majesty 
" intended that we should be governed, (laws 

* full of wisdom and foresight,) and whicli 
" would undoubtedly have ensured our happi- 
" ness, if their administrators had been men of 

* an ordinary corruption. 

" Murders and robberies committed with im- 
" punity ; widows and orphans despoiled, inhe- 
" ritances plundered, creditors and debtors equally 
" ruined in affairs of the most simple nature., 
61 unfortunate colonists scarcely arrived at the 
" moment of enjoying the fruits of long and 
u painful labours, which would have afforded the 
u means of existence to their families, devoured 



- 32 

without pity onthe most trifling discussion, 
like a victim fattened till then only for that 
purpose ! In short, who can deny that the 
" disorder in this point had increased to such 
a degree, that a man destitute of employment 
or property might attempt any thing against 
a proprietor, because the latter, convinced be- 
" fore hand of the usurpation of part of his 
" property, and of the loss of the remainder 
u by the excessive costs of justice, would have 
" rather submitted to the most violent assaults 
" in his house and person, than have offered 
" any resistance to them. 

ci Such was the dismal but faithful 
a Picture of the Colony at the pe- 
" riod of its Conquest ; and that peace 
" which it enjoyed (which alone had cont-ri- 
" buted to attract that multitude of exiles 
" who had been forced to fly from the civil 
<c wars which raged iu the neighbouring is- 
" lands) that peace of which they so highly 
€C applauded the advantages, was sold to us at 
" the price of being devoured in the den of 
" chicanery, if any difficulty obliged us to 
11 have recourse to justice, whilst our adminis- 
'* trators, in their dispatches to the court of Ma- 
" drid, attributed the rapid and unexpected in* 



S3 

tc crease of population to the effects of a wise 
cc and virtuous administration. 

K We have not thought necessary to give 
te your Excellency a detail of the numerous acts 
<c just mentioned. You were not long at the head 
" of this government without obtaining a perfect 
cc knowledge of them, in consequence of the ne- 
cc cessity imposed upon you to pursue the affairs 
cc of justice already commenced. What was your 
u astonishment on beholding such infamy, and 
<c how often have you expressed your indigna- 
cc tion thereon ? Yes Sir, we will say, that pene- 
" trated with the misfortunes of several persons 
cc who could not escape the claws of these vul- 
cc tures, your Excellency wished to relieve them ; 
" but how could it be effected ? If with that in- 
" tent you are obliged to have recourse to several 
(e of the same men of whom we complain, whose 
<£ interest it is to support each other, and to bury 
" in darkness what we are desirous of making 
<c known to the world. 

iC The zeal and anxiety which your Excellency 
" has manifested for the good of this colony, can 
<c only meet with the success you so well deserve, 
Ci by assenting to the request that we now presume 



34 

vc to make, for the establishment of a superior tri- 
" bunal erected m the following manner, or in 
iC any other that your excellency may judge most 
6C expedient* 

" Signed by a great majority of the 

" respectable Inhabitants of all Na- 

" tions." 

Colonel Picton was but six weeks in the ad- 
ministration of his government, when this Ad- 
dress, with the plan and proposition annexed, 
was presented to him. Those who have the 
pleasure of knowing him, I believe, very gene- 
rally allow, that he is a man of great natural 
talents, with a keen, penetrating, and discrimi- 
nating power of mind; but notwithstanding his 
abilities, it was impossible for any man, how- 
ever endowed, to comprehend in this short 
period the whole circle of his various duties ; 
He was however skilled in the Spanish language, 
and was therefore capable of conversing with 
such persons as he conceived most qualified for 
giving him correct aud useful information. 



* The plan proposed in the Address follows this in the 
original, but being quite-foreign to my purpose, I have not 
inserted it. 



35 

What is that sensible step which any cool, rea- 
sonable, and dispassionate man would take in 
such a conjuncture ? the direct answer is, con- 
sult with those men who are best fitted, from 
their characters, age, circumstances, and abi- 
lities, to advise you. 

There was at that time living in the colony an 
old gentleman of the name of Don Christoval 
de Robles, who, for nearly half a century, had 
filled, with high reputation for honor and inte- 
grity, the principal situations in the administra- 
tion. This gentleman was recommended to 
Colonel Picton as a man of all others the most 
capable of directing his efforts for the good of 
the country, and of giving him a faithful and 
correct account of its internal situation. Colonel 
Picton sought his information with avidity, and 
I give from the original paper presented by Co- 
lonel Picton to the Committee of the Lords of his 
Majesty's most honorable Privy Council, the 
substance of the information and advice which 
that respectable and revered gentleman gave tp 
him on their first interview. It is for its par- 
ticular purpose an authentic document which no 
honor abh man can question. 



D 2 



36 



DON CHRISTOVAL DE ROBLES' RECOM- 
MENDATION TO COLONEL PICTON. 

" AS you have done me the honour of con- 
cc suiting me, I will give you my honest and can- 
" did sentiments on the situation of this colony. 

"The population is mostly composed of refu- 
"gees and desperate characters who have been 
"implicated in the rebellions and massacres of 
"'all the neighbouring islands ; their principles' 
"are incompatible with all regular governments, 
" and their inveteracy to your nation is irrecon- 
" cileable. The timidity of the former govern- 
c ' ment suffered their crimes to pass unpunished, 
' * and at your arrival they were actually masters 
" of the island. You may judge of the numbers 
' c capable of bearing arms, by the application of 
"the French Consul to the governor on the ap- 
"pearance of the British fleet, when he offered 
c c him the assistance of 3000 republicans, which 
6 c (not being inclined to make any resistance) he 
€i thought proper to decline. 

" To those you may add the Spanish peons or 
" people of colour, aset of vagabonds who casu- 



37 

ft ally come over from the continent, and who 
" are ready to join in any disorder that affords a 
" prospect of plunder, and a great proportion of. 
(i the slaves who have been sent here from the 
I l other islands for crimes dangerous to their safety. 
< ' These people are now apparently quiet ; but 
" they are the more dangerous as they are only 
" waiting for a favourable opportunity to show 
" themselves. They are studying you and your 
" garrison. A considerable portion of your troops, 
H if one may draw a conclusion from their con- 
f c versation and conduct, are not well affected, 
" and may be easily seduced, and those people 
" will leave no means untried to effect it. If 
6i you do not give an imposing character to your 
"government before the climate diminishes the 
" number of your soldiers, your situation will 
" become alarming. If those men do not fear 
"you, they will despise you, and you may ea- 
" sily foresee the consequences. They have been 
i: accustomed to a timid and temporising govern- 
" ment ; a few acts of vigor may disconcert their 
" projects: but perhaps you expect some co-oper- 
" ationfrom the magistrates and tribunals: allow 
" yourself no longer to be deceived ; there is not 
" a sufficient confidence in the duration of your 
" government to induce any one to commit him- 
" self by a vigorous application to the law. They 



38 

" are all apprehensive of returning under the do- 
" minion of their old masters, and will be careful 
u not to expose themselves. They are besides 
" people of weak and timid characters, from 
" whom no energy can be expected. There is 
" but one line of conduct by which you can ex- 
" tricate yourself from all these difficulties. The 
4i circumstances of the conquest have virtually 
" combined in you the whole power of the go- 
" vernment. You are supreme political, crimi- 
* nal, civil, and military Judge. You unite in 
" your own person the separate powers of the 
"Governor, tribunals, and royal audience ofca- 
11 raccas : our laws enable you to judge sumraa- 
" lily, without recusation or appeal, Circum- 
" stances like the present have been foreseen by 
"our lawyers, who have provided remedies equal 
"to the occasion. You are not shackled by 
" forms or modes of prosecution. If you do sub- 
stantial justice, you are only answerable to 
" God and your conscience." 

Such was the language of advice and recom- 
mendation given to Colonel Picton by this ex- 
perienced and informed gentleman. The for* 
mer had acquired sufficient knowledge of the 
persons he had to deal with not to see its pro- 
priety, and accordingly he acted upon it. Some 



39 

transactions which occurred in the island soon 
afterwards, connected with the principle of ad- 
vice recommended by Robles, and which have 
been made the ground of obloquy and accusa- 
tion by certain person or persons in this coun- 
try, it is quite foreign to the purport of this let- 
ter to enter upon ; it is however proper to state, 
that General Sir Ralph Abercromby returned 
to Trinidad, after the expedition to the island 
of Porto Rico, in the month of June following, 
subsequent to the period when most, if not all 
those transactions alluded to, had taken place, 
and after being fully informed of every thing, 
that had occurred in the colony since his de- 
parture in February, he was pleased to express 
his entire and complete approbation (I know 
the fact) of Colonel Picton's conduct in the 
strongest terms, and he accordingly, in his 
succeeding dispatches, recommended him to His 
Majesty's Ministers, as an officer in every respect 
qualified to fill the important situation of Gover- 
nor of the islands. 

I have gone more at length, and may 
appear to have detailed, with more minute- 
ness than the immediate object of this letter 
would seem to require, the proceedings of the 
early part of Colonel Picton's administration, 
and of his connexion with, and services ma- 



40 

der Sir Ralph Abercromby. It serves how- 
ever two very important purposes ; it proves 
first, that the acts of Colonel Picton, which 
have been branded as cruel, unjust, and tyran- 
nical by some interested and malevolent per- 
sons, were not only not considered so by that 
great officer, but that he had, after a second 
visit to the colony, and upon a minute inspec- 
tion of all the proceedings which had taken place 
during his absence, pronounced the highest eu- 
logium in the power of a commander in chief 
to bestow, by a warm and anxious recommen- 
dation of Colonel Picton to the protection of 
the Sovereign. It proves, in the second place, 
what is more to the particular subject of my 
statement, that the basis, or superstructure, 
upon which all the proceedings, which have 
since become subjects of public and judicial 
investigation, was laid by that illustrious offi- 
cer, and whatever aberrations Colonel Picton 
might have, in foro conscientias, thought pro- 
ber to make from the usual or general forms of 
civil or criminal processes, that he was fully, 
completely, and substantially borne out by the 
advice and example, and by the large discre- 
tionary powers and authorities given to him in 
the commission and instructions granted to 
Judge Nihell,- which I have already laid before 
my readers. 



41 

I have not taken up my pen to examine the 
whole of the conduct and proceedings of Gover- 
nor Picton for the seven years during which he 
had the honor of presiding over the colony ; 
nor is it my intention to make any application 
of the extraordinary powers with which he was 
armed by the above instructions to any particu- 
lar case : the duty which I have imposed upon 
myself lies within a much narrower compass ; 
hut although I have not considered it within 
the limits of my obligation to do this, and have 
accordingly narrowed mv investigation to one 
particular point, yet I have considered it highly 
necessary to state the general instructions by 
which Colonel Picton was directed to guide 
himself, as the most satisfactory proof of the 
caution, the moderation, the wisdom, and high 
respect which he paid even to the most puncti- 
lious forms of the laws which he was directed 
to administer ; by shewing, that notwithstand- 
ing the extent of those discretionary powers, un- 
known and unparalleled as they were in this re- 
spect, they did not. in the smallest instance, no 
not in an omission even of the most minute and 
scrupulous form, either influence his judge- 
ment, or actuate his conduct in that extraor- 
dinary case, which it now becomes my pro- 
vince to detail to the public, and which forms 



42 

the leading subject of this letter; I mean the 
Trial and Punishment of Louisa Calderon, for 
the robbery of her keeper and master, Pedro 
Ruiz, of 2000 dollars, or 450 /. sterling. 



43 



CASE OF LOUISA CALDERON. 

IT is sufficiently known to the British public, 
that in the year 1 802, during the administration 
of Lord Sidmouth, the government of the is- 
land of Trinidad was, as it is technically called, 
" put in commission," that is, in plain lan- 
guage, three persons were selected by His Ma- 
jesty's Ministers to fulfil the duties imposed upon 
them by that commission. I cannot better ex- 
plain the motives by Avhich His Majesty's con- 
fidential servants seem to have been actuated 
in resolving upon what appeared to the gene- 
rality of the public at that time a novel mea- 
sure, than by copying the words of the Right 
Honorable the Earl of Buckinghamshire, then 
Lord Hobart, and Secretary of State for the 
Colonial Departments, in his letter to Colonel 
Picton, dated July 9, 1802, when he first 
officially communicated to him the account of 
the determination of Ministry upon the adop- 
tion of that measure. It is as follows : 

Cf The sentiments expressed in your letter 
if of the 144h December last, on the subject of 



- 44 

*' the fa tare constitution of Trinidad, are so 
sc perfectly in unison with those entertained by 
w His -Majesty's Ministers, that you may rest 
" assured it is not intended to establish in that 
" island, the form of legislature existing in the 
* f Old West India Colonies, until the situation 
w of it be such as to afford a reasonable ex- 
* 6 pectation, that the measure would be advan- 
" tageous to the real interest, both of the island 
** itself, and the mother country. The itnpor- 
? tance of this object has not failed to arrest 
* c the particular and attentive consideration of 
* His Majesty's Government, and in order that 
tc they may be enabled to form a determination , 
" founded on the best grounds of intelligence ^ 
" and information, that can possibly be obtained, 
" His Majesty has thought it expedient to place 
ic the government of the island hi commission, 
" judging, that from the union of civil, military y 
6< and naval talents combined in the persons se- 
* c led ed for this service, advantages must arise, 
" which cannot be expected from the labours of 
" any one individual. The experience of your 
* f conduct from the time the island was first 
* c placed under your charge, has induced His 
ic Majesty to select you as one of the persons to* 
M whom this important trust shall be confided. yy 



45 

It is also sufficiently known that the persons 
selected, were Mr. Fullarton, Colonel Picton 
(then Governor, and Captain General of the 
island, and residing there in that high situation,) 
and Commodore Hood ; Mr. Fullarton, who 
was named first in the commission, arrived in 
the island, I believe, on the 4th of January 
1803, and Sir Samuel Hood on the £2d .of 
February following. The Commissioners were, 
to my own knowledge, received by Colonel Picton 
with every mark of respect, attention, and 
hospitality. What the particular duties pointed 
out to them in their detailed instructions from 
the English government were, it is quite unne- 
cessary for me to state, but as it has been cir- 
culated with some diligence, both in this coun- 
try, and in the East and West Indies, that the 
review and examination of Colonel Picton 's ad- 
ministration formed a part of those instructions, 
I here assert, from a copy of them now before 
me, that no review or examination of his former 
government, formed any part whatever of that pa- 
per. Commodore Hood, I am authorized to state, 
from conversations with him on this point, had 
no private instructions on the subject, and whe- 
ther Mr. Fullarton received any, the public will 
best judge from his ozvn declaration to Captain 



46 

Slid ton in Trinidad, as solemnly attested upon 
oath, by that officer. 



COPY OF CAPTAIN SHELTON'S DECLARA- 
TION. 

Port of Spain, Q3d February, 180*. 

c * On the evening of the 21st instant, I 
c< waited on Colonel Fullarton, by desire of 
€C B. General Picton, in order to learn if he had 
" made any arrangements to receive Commo- 
ss dore Hood, the third Commissioner in Coun- 
" cil, on the next day. He immediately said, 
" I am very glad to see you, and shall em- 
cc brace this opportunity of speaking to you in 
" private" I accordingly withdrew with him, 
*■ when he said as follows : 

<c You are no doubt, Sir, acquainted with 
<c the difference that subsists between General 
'" Picton and myself, and I have to assure you 
" it has not proceeded from any intention on 
<c my part, as there is not any person who has 
" a higher opinio?! of his zeal, abilities and 
" energy : to his indefatigable perseverance and 
cc attention, this colony is particularly indebted ; 
" and so far from my depreciating , or wishing to 



47 

"& lessen him in the public opinion, I have to 
** assure you that I hold the highest opinion, not 
<c only of his abilities, but of his administration ; 
<f nor do I know any person possessing more 
Cf general information, or a more decided cha- 
** racter, and that / should think ynyself bound, 
<c as a man of honor, to give the most ample tes- 
" timonials ; for in reality I think he has the 
" strongest claims ; and so far from my disap- 
" proving of his administration, I should be hap- 
<f py to follow it ; but my misfortune is, that I 
" cannot, at a moment, derive such information 
" as he has acquired in an experience of six 
tc years in the colony. It has been said that I 
" hav r e coalesced with persons inimical to him 
€C and his government; this I absolutely deny, 
ss and I dare any man to say so. In the situa- 
" tion which I stand, I have declared myself 
" ready to receive all descriptions of people who 
" wait on me, but not to encourage or counte* 
" nance complaints intended to be made against 
" General Picton; so far from it, that when I 
<( perceived any attempt of this nature, I have 
" invariably discouraged it, remarking that the 
" prospective, and not the retrospect, was the 
<f system on which, on every occasion, I was 
• c determined to act. My receiving persons 
" hostile to General Picton ? and whose prmcx- 



4S 

p pies I dare say he justly censures, ought not 
<c to be attributed as a fault. As members of 
" this community I receive them; but so far 
" from countenancing, that I assure you they 
" have felt my indifference so fully as to have 
" induced them to say that the joy they felt 
" on my arrival in the colony has been turned 
iC into mourning. Respecting my having sanc- 
cc tioned a mulatta woman, Duval, to remain 
" here for a short time, it was not a measure 
" intended in opposition to the General, but 
f c merely to allow her to settle her affairs ; and 
" if there had not been a misconception or 
<c misrepresentation on the part of Mr. Wood- 
" year, the General would not have attacked 
" me in my own house, and in the presence of 
■ ' my wife and family, in so high and imperious 
" a tone. I have the character of - an officer 
" and a gentleman to maintain, and cannot 
" easily reconcile the harshness of such treat- 
c ' ment. Notwithstanding, I beg you will in- 
" form General Picton of my sincere wish to co- 
" v operate with him most cordially; his infor- 
1 i mation will be of the most essential service in 
" the plans zvhich we may adopt or pursue, and 
" his decided character will strengthen ourcoun- 
*' cils, I am perfectly aware that by unanimity 
" alone we shall succeed — nothing shall be 



49 

" wanting on my part* 1 repeat, as before^ 
" that I admire his abilities, and his extensive 
" information ; and I, of course, so far from 
" censuring, or having cause to censure, any 
" part of his administration, that I shall ever 
" think it worthy of imitation, and such as we 
" ought to follow T 

Such was the substance of Colonel Fullarton's 
conversation, which lasted, I believe, an hour, 
reiterating his approbation and admiration of 
General Picton, and his hopes that I would 
do justice to his sentiment in my communica- 
tion. 

Robert Shelto^ 

Captain 57th Regiment* 
Attested before the Privy Council* 

But whether the Commissioners had, or had 
not, authority to inquire into Governor Picton's 
administration, is very little to the purport of my 
statement; I mention it, and the circumstances 
connected with, it, chiefly with the view of ac- 
quitting, from the fullest authority (that of the 
Commissioners), the then Secretary for the 
Colonial Department, and the Administration at 

E 



50 

large, from any knowledge of, or participation 
in, a transaction of a very extraordinary nature, 
which 1 shall think it my duty to bring forward 
before I conclude this Address.— This, I trust, is 
a very sufficient reason for extending the limits of 
my paper by mentioning it. 

I shall pass over entirely the public trans- 
actions which took place among the Commis- 
sioners, until the day when Mr. Fullarton 
thought proper to state to the other two Com- 
missioners, and His Majesty's Council of that 
island, the charges which he brought against 
the conduct and government of Colonel Picton : 
they were, I believe, presented to the Council the 
24th of March, and were dated the 12th of the 
same month. The two Commissioners, Colonel 
Picton, and Commodore Hood, had dined with 
Mr. Fullarton on the 25 th of February preceding; 
General Grinfield was also invited; and I had 
the honor of being one of the party, by invitation 
from Mr. Fullarton. From the seeming attention 
and respect which Mr. Fullarton paid to Colonel 
Picton on that day, I augured a future good 
understanding. General Grinfield sailed from 
Port of Spain on the 15th or lfl'th of March; 

i I take the date of the subsequent trans- 



61 

actions from a copy of the Minutes of the Coun* 
cil of that island, now before me. 

Although not indispensable to my immediate 
purpose, yet for the sake of truth, and of contra- 
dicting a report which has also been circulated 
with great industry, that Commodore Sir Samuel 
Hood joined Mr. Fullarton in his charge against 
Colonel Picton, I give, from Colonel Picton's 
letter to Lord Hobart, a copy of the Com* 
modore's address to Mr. Fullarton in Council, 
on the very day when he presented the charges,, 
This aadress was taken down by Colonel Picton, 
and printed in his letter, dated November 1 804 ; 
a copy of which was immediately transmitted to 
Sir Samuel, then on his station at BarbadoeSc 
He has been in this country for some months ; 
and although Mr. Fullarton has had the hardi- 
hood to assert that it was not spoken by him ? 
I do now assert, from authority, that such 
assertion is false. 



£ 2 



52 



COPY of Commodore HoocPs Address to Mr, 
Fullarton, in the Presence of all the Mem- 
bers of His Majesty's Council of Trinidad, 
respecting a Proclamation of the Commis- 
sion which had not been communicated to 
him by Mr. Fullarton. 

" But I was never consulted respecting the 
" proclamation; and I am sorry, Sir, that you 
" have so bad a memory. Do you already 
" forget having assured me, that the procla- 
*>' mation was torn down by General Picton' s 
" partizans? I am ashamed of you; ashamed 
" to be seen in the same company. JSTot with 
you, General Picton — / shall be proud to 
act with you on all occasions— you have 
never attempted to impose upon me — you 
" have allowed me to see my own way. I have 
a never had any conversation with General 
" Picton respecting the disagreements $ but 
as for you, Sir (turning to Mr. Fullarton), 
your behaviour has been such, that nothing 
but the paramount obligation of His Ma- 



u 
tc 

" jestifs Commission could seat us at the 
" same board. I shall, however, request to 



44 be relieved as soon as possible from so dis- 
44 agreeable a situation, with a colleague with 
44 whom I can have no further confidence. I 
44 wqs in hopes you had been occupied in car- 
44 rying His Majesty* s orders into effect, by 
44 forwarding the objects of the Commission ; 
44 but I find) on the contrary, that every step 
44 you have taken has tended to protract them: 
44 you have, in the most arbitrary, indecent 
44 manner, taken advantage of my absence 
44 to suspend the Public Secretary, contrary 
44 to the opinion of the Council and of your 
44 colleague, who protested against the mea- 
44 sure, and advised that the consideration 
44 should be postponed until my arrival. In- 
44 stead of cordially co-operating with General 
44 Picton, you seem to have done every thing 
44 in your power to inspire him with disgust. 
44 The general dissatisfaction which your pro- 
44 peedings have given to the public bodies, 
44 magistrates, and respectable people of the 
44 colony, is but too apparent. You are doing 
44 every thing you can to ruin the country $ 
44 but you shall not effect it ; we will not allow 
44 youP 



54 

I ask pardon of my reader for having thus di- 
gressed a little from my particular object; I 
now return : 



CHARGE AGAINST COLONEL PICTON. 

I find this charge in the Minutes of Council of 
Trinidad, stated as follows : 

c( For the application of torture to extort con- 
" fession from Louisa Calderon, a girl under 
"fourteen years of age, respecting a robbery 
" supposed to have been committed by Carlos 
" Gonsalez against Pedro Ruiz, stated to have 
<c been frequently employed as an agent by 
C6 General Picton. The torture is stated to 
" have been applied two successive times, with 
'{ such severity that the girl fell down in ap- 
" pearance dead, and there was no physician or 
" surgeon to assist." 

The charge thus stated includes three or four 
different crimes, which it is necessary to particu- 
larize, for reasons which shall be subsequently 
given to the reader. The Jirst is, that it was 
applied to a girl under fourteen years of age ; 
that is, to a person of that age whom the Spa- 



65 

iiisli law exempts from punishment of this kind * e 
The second is, that she was punished under a 
supposition of a robbery. The third is, an im- 
plication of Colonel Picton's improper con* 
nexion or interference in the business, by deno- 
minating the person robbed " as an agent fre~ 
" quently employed by Colonel Picton." And 
the fourth is, that the punishment was applied 
with such severity, " that she fell down in ap- 
" pearance dead, and there was no physician 
il or surgeon to assist." 

The motives which induced Mr. Fullarton, at 
so early a period of his sojourn in the country, 
to advance a charge of this complicated nature, 
and so entirely contrary to the opinion and 
belief of his colleague Sir Samuel Hood, I have 
not taken upon myself to investigate. It is, 
however, neither unreasonable nor unfair to con- 
clude, that when, according to his own declara- 
tions, he received no instructions to examine 
into the previous government, and that when 
such an attempt was made by him, it was 
publickly, forcibly, and with the utmost ear- 
nestness on the part of his colleague, not only 



The age of puberty, by the Spanish law, is twelve. 



66 

deprecated, but utterly decried and discredited, 
and his veracity at the same time in other 
concerns impeached and maintained before His 
Majesty's Council of the island, and where that 
impeachment was supported and sustained by 
all the Members of that Council but one ; I say, 
in these circumstances, it is neither unreasonable 
nor unfair to conclude, that Mr, Fullarton's 
motives, in taking up this business, were not the 
result of a feeling or sense of public duty, nor in 
obedience to the requisition of public instruc- 
tions. 

But if I cannot give him much credit in this 
respect, i shall not be deficient in acknow- 
ledging, that the taste, (if I may so pervert 
the real meaning of the word) which he has 
shewn in the selection of his charge, argues 
an acuteness of discrimination, which, when 
we consider the nature of the work he medi- 
tated, proves his ability in the way of crimi- 
nation. Excellence in any line should never 
pass unnoticed. Between him who most ex- 
alts, and him who most debases his nature, 
there is but the moral difference of right and 
of wrong. The wicked ingenuity of the act 
by which that difference is contrasted may still 
be a subject of admiration, and the man may 



57 

be handed down to posterity an object of uni- 
versal horror and execration, while the record 
of his villainy yet remains a black, but extra- 
ordinary instance of perverted talents, and dis- 
torted genius. Mr. Fullarton knew the temper 
of the happy country from which he came ; 
he participated in accusations which not long 
since had hunted down, by a hue and cry of 
unpopularity, the reputation and fortune of a 
man, whom the highest and most honored 
branch of the legislature at length pronounced 
innocent and guiltless. He well knew the feel- 
ings of the people of England, and with what 
facility and success every impostor before him 
had roused those feelings, which, according to 
their direction, cast so much honor or so much 
disgrace on the national character. Happy, 
too happy, I conclude, did he feel himself, when 
he was able, with an air of great philanthropy 
and plausibility, to offer to the public anew vic- 
tim for popular indignation. Religion had lost 
its hypocritical cowl— Mahomet had long since 
monopolized all this trade. Patriotism had ex- 
pended its masks — Wilkes is no more — the 
French Revolution is passed, and the civil and 
political liberty of England, disjointed by the 
shock, wanted the cement and fiery infusion of 
an inhabitant of a new and tropical region to 



58 

support its weakness, and to renew its expiring 
strength. Louisa Calderon was to be brought 
from another world, and an hypocritical mulata 
prostitute, a self-convicted robber, introduced 
into Westminster Hall, and associated with 
Hampden, and with Sydney, to the edification 
and instruction of the present and succeeding 
generations. — Why, alas ! should this noble, 
generous, and high-minded feeling, the pecu- 
liar boast and glory of the English nation, be 
perverted to the basest and most degrading pur- 
poses ? Why should every mountebank in po- 
litics, every bankrupt in fortune and in honor, 
be capable of leading this charitable and mag- 
nanimous people astray, and of turning their 
feeling hearts and reflecting minds to the fur- 
therance of their own base and wicked designs ? 
That this has actually been the case in the business 
of Mademoiselle Calderon, I have no difficulty in 
saying that I shall be able most satisfactorily to 
prove; I feel quite confident in asserting, that 
1 shall in this letter place beyond all doubt or 
contradiction, that so far from any violation 
being offered to the laws which Colonel Picton 
was directed to administer, so far from any ty- 
ranny, oppression, or ill treatment being exercised 
against Mademoiselle Calderon, the most minute 
and scrupulous observance of the most minute 



59 

and scrupukms forms of that law was rigidly 
adhered to throughout ; that in every connexion 
and relation in which it can be viewed, it will 
be pronounced according to the laws of the 
tribunal under which she was born, and under 
which the habits of her mind and feelings took 
their rise, a fair, impartial, just, and honora- 
ble trial 

I shall first state who and what the parties 
concerned in this robbery were. 

Pedro Ruiz was a laborious, industrious Spa- 
niard, who by economy, and indefatigable at- 
tention to little savings, had accumulated, (as 
many of my most respected countrymen have 
done) a sum of money to the amount of 450 L 
sterling, by which he extended his dealings and 
increased his stock. He sold tobacco at his 
shop, and dealt in mules and other cattle. For 
this last article of his trade, Colonel Picton, who 
was himself a planter, and hereby gave the most 
unequivocal proofs of his desire, and of his in- 
terest to uphold the laws, (which are the only 
basis of order and of peace in any society of hu- 
man beings) had some dealings with Pedro 
Euiz ; and as the third part of the charge (vide 



60 

page 54.) which I have already stated, not 
obscurely alludes to this connexion, I give in 
the annexed note the declaration on oath of 
Pedro Ruiz before the court holden at Port of 
Spain, his Excellency the Lieutenant Gover- 
nor being present,* on this nefarious allusion. 
Pedro had been shopman to a merchant or shop- 
keeper of the name of Salazar, and to another 
merchant and shopkeeper of the name of Sanda, 
both of whose services he quitted by his own 
desire, and with a good character. Concu- 
binage is a vice common and general in all parts 
of the West India islands, and after Pedro be- 
came a housekeeper, he took Louisa Calderon, 
(of whom it may be quite sufficient to say that 
she was the daughter of a woman of the same 
class and color) as his concubine and house^ 
keeper. She had lived with him according to 
her own declaration on oath at the time of the 
robbery, " between two years and an half and three 



* Examined by Mr. Hayes. 

Q. Was there at that time any account standing between 
you and General Picton ? A. Before and after I had seve- 
ral accounts for mules and cattle, but I was paid immediately. 
Q. Was there no money due to you by General Picton at 
the time of making the report of the robbery of 2000 dollars ? 
A. No. 



61 



tc 



years' 9 At this period, which was the 7th 
December 1801, the robbery was committed. 
In order to give my reader a general outline and 
view of the transaction, I annex an extract from 
the declaration on oath, before the chief Magis- 
trate, Mr. Begorrat, the Alcalde in ordinary, 
who conducted the law process against her, as 
taken from the minutes of Council in which it 
was by order registered. 



DECLARATION of the Honorable Hilariot 
Begorrat to the Commissioners and Council^ 
on Wednesday 6th April 1803, relating to 
the Insinuations thrown out by Colonel Ful- 
larton, on the 24th March 1803, respect- 
ing the use of the Torture. 

" GENTLEMEN, 

' In consequence of the permission granted 
" to me by this Honorable Board of Council, 
' to enter upon the minutes my answer to the 
' insinuation thrown out by Colonel Fullarton, 
' respecting my conduct in, the prosecution of 
( Louisa Calderon, I now make a relation of 



62 

f* every thing that has passed in that transac- 
" tion on oath. 

'•? I will relate the nature of the rack or tor- 
" ture directed by our laws, the circumstances 
sc under which it is to be applied, and the ob- 
cc jects on which it is proper to inflict it ; by 
" which means you will be able yourselves to 
" form a judgement, whether the application of 
" this species of torture, the picket, on two 
" different days inflicted on Louisa Calde»on, 
" was any thing like the severity meant by this 
a law. You will undoubtedly reflect, gentle- 
" men, that in a process like this, as in many 
" others, and in a country where French and 
" English inhabitants-are obliged to administer 
" the laws, written in a language different from 
" their own, there may be some deficiencies ; 
fC and I will observe to you, gentlemen, that 
" the same laws direct the Judges in their sen- 
<f tence, to take into their consideration only 
" the justice and real intention of the 'cause, 
" and not to stand themselves to any defect 
" of formality, which may have been omit- 
6i ted. Vide Recopilacion de Castilla — Tomo 
" primo, Libro quarto. Tit. 17. 'Ley. 10. 
" fo. 603. 



63 

(i At the moment of a confusion occasioned 
" by a meeting of some of the inhabitants at 
" Warton's Tavern, in the latter end of the 
" year 1801, a meeting which gave infinite 
" trouble to the tribunal at which I presided as 
" Alcalde of the first election taking a number 
i( of depositions, five or six robberies or bur- 
" glaries were committed in eight or ten days 
i c in the town of Port of Spain ; among which 
cc Pedro Ruiz was robbed of a sum of money 
*' (near 2000 dollars or above 400/. sterling,) 
f* which was nearly his all. This burglary was 
" committed a little after sun-set ; Pedro Ruiz 
" was from home; he had sent his negroes to 
6 ' St. Joseph's on his business ; Louisa Calderon, 
(i a woman with whom he cohabited, was in 
(i the house at the moment the robbery was 
" committed. The witnesses and neighbours 
f depose, that they saw Carlos Gonzales speak 
" to Louisa Calderon at the street door, (this 
(i house has two entrances) then go round to 
' ' the back door, next the sea, and enter the 
" house by a narrow passage, just before the 
" robbery was committed. Louisa Calderon 
f * went immediately afterwards to her mother's, 
" and Pedro Ruiz went hornet he went to his 
S£ chamber, where he found his trunk at the 

" door, with the lock broken and his money 



64 

€c gone. Louisa returned at the noise of the 
" robbery, appeared astonished, and declared 
6C she was ignorant of any person having gone 
6£ in or out of the , house and of the rob- 
" bery. 



" Governor Pieton, on the application of 
" Pedro, went to the spot where the robbery 
" was committed, nearly opposite to Covern- 
6i ment House, and ordered Louisa Calderon to 
" prison. Carlos Gonzales shewed the greatest 
" uneasiness when the robbery was discovered, 
" walked with great agitation here and there, 
* ' and from street to street ; he then returned to 
" the house, lamenting the loss his friend Pedro 
" had sustained. The day after, I received 
" orders from Governor Pieton to prosecute 
<{ this robbery; the same day, and the following 
u days, I took the depositions of the witnesses, 
<c which implicated Carlos, and I had him 
iC immediately apprehended; at the same time 
" I sent for Louisa Calderon to jail to take 
&6 her declaration extrajudicially in my own 
iC office, in presence of the Escrivano Castro. 
" This I did in order to prevent the expenses of 
ic the law, and to shorten the process. She 
iC denied the whole of the charge, and attested 
*' that she never had any intrigue with Carlos* 



65 

u Carlos was called upon to give his declaration 
i( in the same manner, extrajudicially, in my own 
" office, in the presence of the Escrivano Castro. 
" He also denied every thing laid to his charge, 
" denying also his having gone into the house 
" by the narrow passage near the sea side, 
" although the witnesses had sworn to it; 
" denying also that he ever had any intrigue 
e< with Louisa Calderon. Two days after, 
" she was brought from gaol to my office, 
" to be again examined extrajudicially in pre- 
" sence of the Escrivano : she then thought pro- 
" per to confess, making use of this expression, 
" ' Now, Judge, I will tell you every thing.' 
" She then confessed, that it was very true 
" she had for some time past a love intrigue 
" with Carlos Gonzales ; that being alone in 
€i the house that dav, he had solicited a meeting; 
" with her, and that he came into the chamber 
" of Pedro Ruiz by the back door, next the sea 
" side, through the narrow passage, at the time 
iC mentioned by the witnesses; and having gra- 
" titled his wishes, he went away. She ob- 
" served, that for lier part she had not stolen 
>cc the money, but would say nothing further. 
" Immediately afterwards I had Carlos brought 
<c from gaol, and confronted with Louisa, in 
" presence of the Escrivano and the gaoler, in 

F 



66 

te my office ; the depositions of the witnesses 
" were related to Carlos, and the foregoing 
" circumstances repeated in his presence by 
c< Louisa. His countenance and figure instantly 
" manifested the greatest confusion and embar- 
iC rassment. He then confessed, that he had 
u for some time a love intrigue with Louisa; 
" and that it was true, that about the time 
" of the robbery he had gone into the chamber, 
" after having spoken to Louisa at the street 
" door, by the back part of the house near the 
" sea; and after having received her favor, 
" went away; declaring, that he had not 
" broken open the trunk, nor touched the 
" money; and that bashfulness had prevented 
" his acknowledging the intrigue when first 
?' examined. 

" The confessions of the accused, the de- 
" positions of the witnesses, particularly of 
" one of them, a man bed-ridden in a chamber 
" adjoining to that where the trunk was broken 
" open, and who declared, that as he lay in his 
u bed he saw Carlos pass by the narrow passage, 
<l and immediately afterwards heard the lock of 
" a trunk broken, and then Saw Carlos go out 
M undercover of tin: evening, at the time men- 
<c tioned by the witnesses and the accused. 



67 

s< These circumstances form the substance of 
" e the affair. I immediately related all the cir- 
" cumstances to Governor Picton, and told 
" him that it appeared very clear that the 
" accused were actually the perpetrators of 
" the robbery; but it was impossible to find 
c< what they had done with the money." 

u I must observe to you gentlemen, that this is 
ts the only instance, in which the torture has been 
" applied by me during the whole time of my Al- 
" caldeship, where under the immediate sanction 
" of the superior tribunal, I have been under the 
" painful necessity of condemning persons to 
" death, to the pillory, and to be whipped* and 
" that my natural feelings and sensibility have 
" evinced on these occasions, an emotion full as 
" strong as those which the Colonel has mani- 
" fested, in the lamentable recital of those me- 
" lancholy scenes, could 1 imagine that these 
" Inquisitorial Researches had for their end the 
" pure principles of philanthrophy and humani- 

I have inserted in Appendix No. I. the order 
of the whole of the law Process carried on by 
the Alcaldes in ordinary, or Magistrates, from 
the commencement of Louisa Calderon's im- 
prisonment, by order of the Governor, on the 



68 

7th day of December, 1801, to the day of her 
liberation, on the 17th of August, 1802: I 
have placed it in the Appendix, in order to keep 
unbroken the line of my arrangement, and I 
request my reader to turn to it, and look it over : 
he will then be fully capable of following me 
through the order which I shall observe in 
the following narrative, and to determine with 
satisfaction another point, which has been tri- 
umphantly pressed upon as a substantial proof 
of the tyranny and oppression shewn by Colonel 
Picton to this unhappy culprit — I mean, the 
long period in which she was confined in gaol : 
the different months in which the processes 
were executed are marked in the margin ; so 
that by simply carrying his eye throughout, he 
will at one view be fully master of this point. 

The greater, part of the following account of 
the Process carried on against Louisa Calderon 
has continued reference to a source of authority 
beyond all question or doubt; it is to the pro- 
ceeding of an inquiry held as the title expresses 
it, and as it is mentioned in the Appendix, 
" At a Court holden at the Council Chamber, 
Ci in Government House, Port of Spain, in the 
" Island of Trinidad, on Thursday, the <22d 
" day of November, in the forty-fifth year of 
cc the reign of our Sovereign Lord George 



69 

" the Tliird, by the Grace of God of the 
* i United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 
" land, King, Defender of the Faith, and in 
" the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight 
" Hundred and Four, before his Excellency 
" Thomas Hislop, Esq. Brigadier-General of 
" Flis Majesty's Service, and Lieutenant-Go- 
" vernor commanding in Chief of the said 
" Island of Trinidad ; by virtue of certain Writs 
" of Mandamus issued out of his said Majesty's 
" Court of King's Bench at Westminster, for 
" the Examination of Witnesses, and for the 
" receiving other Proofs, concerning the Mat- 
iC ters charged in a certain Indictment found 
Ci in His Majesty's Court of King's Bench 
iC against Thomas Picton, Esq. on the Prosecu- 
" tionofliis Majesty, on the Behalf of Louisa 
e£ Calderon. 

" Present, 
" His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor." 

To this authority I shall have occasion con- 
stantly to refer ; and to save my reader's time 
and trouble, I shall apprize him, that wherever I 
make use of the words, " Proceedings on Oath 
*' before said Court," they relate to the de- 
positions sworn to before the Court so de- 
scribed. 

Mr. Begorrat's declaration concluded at that 



ro 

point of Louisa Calderon's process where she 
confessed, in her extrajudicial * examinations, 
that Carlos Gonzales had had connexion with 
her, that she had admitted him to the house at 
the very time of the robbery, but would confess 
nothing more. I shall now state, from the pro- 
ceedings on oath before the Court, the sources 
of Mr. Begorrat's opinion of Louisa Calderon's 
guilt, and the reasons which induced him to re- 
commend the punishment of picket tp be decreed 
by the superior tribunal, or Governor. 

Mr. Begorrat interrogated on Oath before the 
said Court. 

" Q. You say that the suspicions were very 
" strong against Louisa Calderon ; explain to the 
" Court what those suspicions were to which you 
" allude, as far as vou can recollect. 

"A. When I began the proceedings, according 
" to the order of the General, I found that the 
" declarations of all the witnesses proved the 
" greatest connexion between Louisa Calderon 
ee and Carlos Gonzales ; that Louisa Calderon, 
" by the declaration of the witnesses, appears 
" to have introduced Carlos Gonzales into the nar- 
" row passage in the yery instant mentioned by 

* Extrajudicial, not taken formally when upon the 
Bench, and used as Mr. Begorrat says, to prevent ex- 
pense, and to produce dispatch. 



71 

" the witnesses of the robbery being committed, 
*' and from the passage into the chamber of Pedro 
u Ruiz ; that Louisa Calderon, in her first extra- 
u judicial declaration before me and theEscrivano 
<c Castro, taken upon oath, denied any communi- 
" cation or carnal intercourse whatever with Carlos 
" Gonzales ; that by her second extrajudicial 
" declaration, taken upon oath before the said 
" Castro and me, she then confessed to have 
" introduced Carlos Gonzales through the passage 
ft immediately into the chamber of Pedro Ruiz, 
" when she yielded to all the wishes of Carlos 
M Gonzales, and then retired from the chamber, 
" but that she did not know where the money 
" was ; that Carlos Gonzales, in his first extra- 
" judicial declaration, taken upon oath before me 
" and the Escrivano Castro, denied to have had 
*' any communication or intercourse with Louisa 
" Calderon whatever ; that the said Carlos Gon- 
" zales, in his second extrajudicial declaration on 
" oath before rne and Castro, and before Louisa 
M and all the witnesses, falling upon his knees, 
*' confessed that he had effectually introduced 
" himself through the passage into the chamber 
" of Pedro Ruiz, with the assistance of Louisa, 
" where he had carnal connexion with Louisa 
t* Calderon, as confessed by her; and that the same 
" intercourse had commenced four months before; 
" and that if he had denied, in his first extra- 



72 

" judicial declaration, to have introduced himself 
** by the passage into the chamber of Pedro Ruiz, 
" with the assistance of Louisa, and also his carnal 
" connexion with her, it was from shame, because 
" he was a married man; that the perjury of both 
" of the accused, the depositions of the witnesses 
" against them, and particularly the deposition 
" of one of the witnesses, who was paralytic, lying 
" in the bed distant from the chamber of Pedro 
" Ruiz about eight or nine paces, stating, that 
" in an instant offer the introduction of Carlos. 
u into the passage, he heard the opening of the 
u wicket, and in a moment afterzeards, the noise 
" of breaking open of a trunk or box. All those 
" circumstances, and the great obstinacy of 
" both the accused, to say any thing about the 
ct money, was the motive of my official com- 
" munication to the superior tribunal, respect- 
<l ing the picketing of Louisa Calderon." 



This deposition my reader must, I am certain, 
deem conclusive as to the point which it was ad- 
duced to prove, viz. That the Magistrate had 
sufficient reasons for grounding his suspicions of 
the guilt of Louisa Calderon, and of her being 
an accessary in the robbery of Pedro Ruiz her 
keeper. I am therefore now to prove, that 
Mr. Begorrat was sufficiently authorized in pro- 
posing the infliction of that punishment, which 



73 

he recommended to the Governor in the follow- 
ing official act, which he transmitted by the 
Escrivano Castro to Colonel Picton as the supe- 
rior tribunal. 



Official Communication of the Alcalde of the 
first Election, 

" In consequence of the strong suspicions his 
a Honor entertains of the mulata Louisa Calde- 
" ron, a domestic of Pedro Ruiz, concealing 
" the truth relative to the aforesaid robbery ex- 
" pressed in these proceedings, and his Honor 
" being persuaded that she will discover the 
" truth or the matter, by means of a slight tor- 
" ment being inflicted on the said Calderon, and 
w whereas his Honor is not invested with power 
" to execute the same, his Excellency the Go- 
a vernot and Captain General of this island 
" must be made acquainted hereof, with the 
" summary of this process by virtue of this do- 
" cument, to the intent, that his Excellency 
" may determine, as may appear to him justice. 
" The usual and requisite forms to be adopted 
a and observed by the notary in this cause. 
" And in pursuance hereof, his Honor thus de- 
" creed and ordered, and he signed hereto, 
(( which I, the underwritten Notary, attest this 



74 

H clay, the twenty-second day of the aforesaid 
il month and year. 

" Before me, li Francisco de Castro," 
(Signed) " Begorrat." 

Whereupon the said notary proceeded to 
thfc tribunal of the said Governor and Captain 
General of the island, and the usual forms 
having been observed, I make known to his 
Excellency, the aforesaid act, as also the sum- 
mary in conformity as decreed, which I at- 
test. 

(Signed) Castro. 

And the said Notary, Castro, being asked by 
his Excellency, the Governor, in what manner 
he should give or word the sentence which was 
applied for to him by his Honor the Judge of 
first appointment ; he, the said Castro, dictated 
the form and words of the sentence or punish- 
ment as requested according to law, which was 
as follows, 

" Appliquez la question a Louisa Calderon," 

which, translated into English, is, apply the 

question, or torment, or torture, to Louisa Cai- 

deron. 

(Signed,) {i Thomas Pictqn^ 



75 

*' His Excellency the Governor and Captain 
** General of the island of Trinidad thus or- 
** dered, and he signed the same on the 23d of 
" December, 1801. 

" Francisco de Castro/' 

" I transmitted these proceedings to the Court 
" of the Judge of first appointment. 

(Signed) " Castro/' 

I have said, that I should prove that the 
Magistrate was fully supported and authorized 
by law to propose this recommendation, and 
to carry it into execution, when signed by the 
superior tribunal. 

Let us however, previous to this exposition, 
take a rapid review of the state of the criminal 
jurisprudence in Trinidad, previous to the con- 
quest ; I mean at that period when it is said by 
its oldest inhabitants, that the laws had been ad- 
ministered with the greatest vigor; for at the 
period of the conquest^ and for some years be- 
fore, even Judge Nihell himself, as I shall state 
hereafter, acknowledges, that there was neither 
Jaw or order. This review will occupy hut a, 
yery short time. 



76 



Qualifications and Power of Alcaldes. 

The most correct information on this subject, 
is certainly to be had from the Alcaldes and the 
Escrivano. We shall begin with Judge Nihell, 
on oath before the Court. 

" Q. How long have you resided in the co- 
lony? 

" A. between nineteen and twenty years, 

" Q. Was you an officer of justice at the time 
" of the conquest ? 

" A. I was Alcalde of the first election. 

" Q. If the crimes of robbery, murder, and 
" rape, had been committed with impunity 
" before the conquest, would you not have been 
" the person most likely to have heard of them, 
" and would you not, by virtue of your office, 
" have prosecuted them for these offences? 

" A. I certainly should have heard of them, 
(i but I was not the person most likely to hear 
" them, for these criminal cases were in general 
" tried before the Auditor in the Governor's tri- 
" bunal, criminal cases were generally tried before 
" the Governor and Auditor; and although the 
" Alcaldes were competent to take cognizance of 
" criminal causes, I never heard of any criminal 



• 77 

" cause being carried before them during the 
" Spanish time.* 

"Q. From your knowledge of General Cha- 
" cone, then at the head of the Government, do 
" you believe that he would have permitted a man 
" charged with crimes, such as before stated, to 
" have remained in the island without trial, and 
" in case of conviction, would he not have ordered 
" punishment? 

a A. I certainly found from my knowledge of 
" Governor Chacone, and believed him utterly 
" incapable of any injustice; weallknezv that he 
" could not have ordered punishment without the 
" approbation of the audience of Caraccas, but as 
" far as in him lay, he certainly would have or- 
" dered the execution, and would not have dared 
" to act otherwise." 

Here we have the assertion on oath, of the 
man who filled these offices at the very time of 
the conquest, and had been a resident in it for 
near thirteen years preceding, 1st, That he ne- 
ver heard of a criminal case carried before the 
Alcaldes in the Spanish time, although they were 

* I have inquired into this seeming anomaly, and I find 
that it was owing entirely to the rapacity of the Assessor,^ 
who, on account of the fees arising from the causes, wished 
to have them tried and decided in that tribunal. It has been 
before said that the tribunals were coequal in authority, 



7S 

Competent to try them ; 2dly, That the Gover- 
nor and Auditor, " fitting as Assessor," manao-ed 
all these criminal cases; and 3dly, " That the Spa- 
" nish Governor, every body knew, could not or- 
" der punishment without the approbation of the 
a audience of Caraccas" This fully proves the 
state and practice of the Spanish laws in Trini- 
dad, at the time of the arrival of Sir Ralph 
Abercromby, in 1797. 

I have before stated that the first step of Sir 
Ralph was, to supersede and send out of the 
country the Auditor and Assessor of the former 
government, for his crimes and misdemeanors; 
and that the second was to appoint the said Mr. 
Nihell to the situation of Chief Judge of the 
island. (Vide instructions, page 22.) He did 
not, however, interfere with the Alcaldes, who, 
as Mr. Nihell has deposed, were competent to 
try criminal cases; and notwithstanding, he says 
at the latter end of the second paragraph, of the 
instructions to Judge Nihell, "You are ordered to 
" proceed in all cases, whether civil or criminal, 
* without any assessor, although it may be contrary 
" to the form and spirit of Spanish law." I say, not- 
withstanding this power which he was to exercise, 
" according to the dictates of his conscience, and 
" conformably to the instructions he should receive 
u from Lieutenant Colonel Picton, although it 
u should becontrary to theusual practice of the Spa- 



79 

* nish Government" yet I do not find that he did 
act as a criminal Judge. The Alcaldes were there- 
fore the acting practical criminal Judges, and it 
is to them, and to their opinions of the letter and 
spirit of that criminal law, that we are to have 
recourse, as the surest authority for its practice 
at the period mentioned. Now the question is, 
what was the situation of an Alcalde of the first 
and second election, and what were their 
powers. 

We shall take their own depositions on oath : 
but first let us see what the chief, or, as I before 
called him, vital legal officer, left in the island 
after the conquest, says on this subject. 

The Escrivano Castro^ on Oath* 

" Q. How long have you practised as an Es- 
" crivano? 

" A. More than eighteen years. 

" Q. Is an Alcalde, such as Mr. Begorrat was 
" on the trial of Louisa Calderon, obliged to be 
" graduated as an advocate, before he could exer- 
" cise that function or office? 

" A. No Alcalde in this country has ever been 
" obliged to be graduated as an advocate. 

" Q. Are the Alcaldes of the first and second 
** election now in office, graduated as advocates? 



80 

"A. No. 

" Q. Is it not an elective office, and by whom ? 

" A. Elective by the Cabildo, and to be con- 
" firmed by his Excellency. 

" Q. Have not these officers been generally 
" planters, or persons living in society without 
" being versed or skilled in the Spanish laws ? 

" A. Always. 

" Q. Can, an Alcalde, when elected, refuse 
" the office ? 

" A. Yes, subject to a fine. 

a Q. What was Mr. Begorrat's employment 
" before he was Judge ? 

" A. A planter. 

" Q. Was he ever graduated as an advocate ? 

"A. No. 

" Q. Was there in this island, at the time of 
" Louisa Calderons trial, any graduated advocate 
" with zvhom Mr. Begorrat, as Alcalde, could 
" consult or advise ? 

" A. There was none. 

" Q. What do you call such a Judge as Mr. 
" Begorrat was, according to the Spanish law ? 

" A. Alcalde in ordinary, of the first election. 

" Q. Is there no designation of a Judge, not 
(i graduated, in the Spanish law ? 

" A. Yes, lego. 

"Q. Is not the Eserivano of a Judge Lego, 
" Assessor to him? 



81 

" A. When the Judge requires it. 

w Q. Was it of the competence of the Alcalde,, 
(i Mr. Begorrat, and of his tribunal, to apply the 
" question or torture, to such a crime as that with 
" which Louisa Calderon was charged and com- 
"mitted? 

" A. Not by himself alone, but with the autho- 
" rity of the Government. 

" Q. Was the application of the picket to Louisa 
" Calderon, originally suggested by the defendant 
" the Governor, or by the Alcalde Mr. Begor- 
"rat? 

" A. By the latter." 

I have now stated the opinions of the Escri- 

vano, on the qualities and duties of an Alcalde 

of the first and' second election. I have called 

him a chief legal officer, because he has deposed 

that he may act as an Assessor to the Judge Lego, 

when the Judge requires it, and in his answer 

to Mr. Hayes's * question, page 28 in the re- 

turn to mandamus, who asked him, " you 

" have said that all the Judge's of the Spanish 

" law here, are lego, and that in such cases the 

" Escrivano is the Assessor when required : on 

" what do you found such opinion?" A. "On 

* Counsellor to Mr, Fullarton, and styled, " Barrister 
u at Law/' in the return to mandamus. 



82 

<£ the practical laws explained in the Spanish 
i* law books." 

I shall now have recourse to the Alcaldes 
themselves, and shall begin with Air. Begorrat, 
interrogated on oath before the court. 

" Q. Were you the Judge on the business of 
"Louisa Calderon, or were you acting by spe- 
" cial commission from General Picton? 

" A. The Judge who received the first com- 
" plaint was General Picton, and he committed 
" Louisa Calderon to jail the 7th of December, 
" 1801, and, I believe, on the 9th of December, 
" I received orders from General Picton, as Al- 
" calde of the first election, to prosecute the 
"complaint, which I did to the 31st, on which 
"day my Alcaldeship expired, which makes 
" twenty-two days attending to the business. 

" Q. Are you a graduated and qualified aclvo- 
" cate under the Spanish laws? 

"A. No. 

" Q. As not being graduated, how cameyou 
" to take the office of Judge ? 

" A. To undertake the office of Alcalde in or- 
" dinary, it is not necessary to be a graduated 
" advocate, nor to know how to write, or to read; 
" when any member of the community is elected 
" to such office, he is obliged to accept it, and if 
" he does not accept it, he is by law subject to a 



83 

" penalty, and rendered unable to fill any public 
" charge, and on that account not responsible for 
" any defect or informality in the proceedings. 

" Q. As specially delegated to take charge of 
" the cause of Louisa Calderon, was it with your 
" sanction that she was put on the picket ? 

" A. As Alcalde in ordinary of the first election, 
" I had not sufficient authority to administer the 
" picket to Louisa Calderon without an Assessor, 
" who ought to be a graduated advocate, and as 
" there was not such to be found in the island, I 
" was obliged, according to the law in such cases, 
"to consult with the superior tribunal; I ordered 
" the Escrivano Castro to pass to the superior 
" tribunal the declarations and confessions of the 
"accused Louisa Calderon and Carlos Gonzales, 
" observing, at the same time, that suspicions 
" were very strong against Louisa Calderon and 
" Carlos Gonzales, and I thought her being put 
" on the picket for a short time would make her 
" confess. 

" Q. Had there been a graduated advocate pre- 
" sent, would not the appeal to General Picton 
" have been unnecessary ? 

" A. I would have been obliged to have gone 
" through the business with the Assessor 'till the 
" definitive sentence, but I should have been un- 
" able to put the sentence in execution without 

g 2 



84 

l - the authority and confirmation of the superior 
a tribunal. 

" Q. Were you ever warned by Castro of the 
u formality of letting five days pass after the, 
" decree, and before the execution of it? 

" A. No : and if he had done so, I have always 
" shewn too much respect for the law not to have 
" allowed it ; but I knew Castro, as Escrivano, 
" was obliged to advise me of all the formalities of 
u the laws as a Judge Lego and Imperito; but 
" as far as I can understand the law, I found in the 
il author Bobadellia, that being authorised by the 
iC superior tribunal, in such cases I could adminis- 
' ter the torture without any kind of communica- 
" tion to the accused. 

" Q. Was the picket ordered to Louisa Cal- 
" deron a Spanish mode of punishment, or were 
" you at liberty, as a Spanish Judge, to apply the 
" mode of torture as you thought most advisable? 
" A. The modes of torture are not absolutely 
" defined by the Spanish law ; it is left to the 
" discretion of the Judge, and recommended by 
" the law to the Judges, to administer torture 
" according to the constitution and strength of 
u the accused ; and as I did not consider the 
" picket in the jail but as a very slight torture in 
" comparison to torture used in Spain, I ordered 
u it in preference to Louisa. 



m 

P Q. You say that the mode of torture is clis- 
" cretionary in the Judge ; did you collect that 
^ from the instruction of other persons, or from 
£ the Spanish law hooks of authority ? 

P A. There being no Spanish lawyer of authority 
P in the country, I resorted to the different lazo 
" books which I could procure on the subject" 

To illustrate further the power of the Al- 
caldes, I shall insert Mr. Begorrat's answer to a 
question put by the Court : 

\ (i Q. You observed, in the first part of your 
™ evidence, that the picket was in the first in- 
" stance administered to Louisa Calderon by the 
u authority of General Picton, all the power of 
ic the supreme tribunal being vested in him, did 
1 i the second application of the picket take place 
" alike from the orders of General Picton, or did 
" you, as Judge in the cause, direct it to be admi- 
" nistered? 

" A. When a Judge receives authority to acl- 
" minister the torture to a criminal, it is done in 
" orderto discover the truth : thetorture can only 
" be administered during one hour atone time, 
" but may be repeated twenty-four hours after- 
" wards ; / had therefore no necessity to make a 



86 

" second application to the superior tribunal for 
-"' that purpose, 

• ? Q. Previous to the capture of the island by 
" the English, was there not an appeal from the 
" decisions of the Alcaldes in ordinary to the 
" Governor in Council, or to himself as the chief 
Ci magistrate of the island ? 

"A. No. 

1 ' Q. To whom was such an appeal ? 

" A. To the royal Audience of Caraccas, or 
€i the superior tribunal. 

" Q. Was there not an intermediate tribunal 
u of appeal at Cumana, nor any other inferior 
" tribunal there? 

"A. No." 

I shall state the opinion of Mr. Farfan, a 
gentleman who was Alcalde of the first election, 
and who knew the island from his birth. 

Mr. Farfan, on Oath. 

" Q. Are you a graduated advocate? 
" A. No, 

" Q. How came you to accept the office of 
g First Alcalde ? 

c ( A. Because it is not necessary to be a gra- 



87 

" duated advocate to accept the office, and be- 
" cause, when elected, a fine is imposed on refusal, 
" and many other disabilities. 

" Q. Not being a graduated advocate, why 
" did you not call on one to be your Assessor ? 

" A. Because there was none in the island after 
" the departure of Don Juan Jurado, zvho went 
" off the island according to the orders left by 
" General Sir Ralph Abercromby soon after the 
" conquest. I think that order is to be found 
" among the instructions left with Mr. John Ni- 
" hell, who was directed to act according to his 
" conscience, without the aid of a lawyer, and that 
" sentences given without the aid of a lawyer 
" were to be equally valid. 

" Q. Do you conceive the instructions left by 
" Sir Ralph Abercromby to Judge Nihell binding 
" on you and on all succeeding Alcaldes ? 

"A. Certainly. 

" Q. Was the crime of Louisa Calderon of 
" such a nature as to legally authorise the ap- 
M plication of such torture to her ? 

"A. Yes." 



S8 



Mr. St. Pe, on Oath. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in this 
" Colony?. 

" A. Twenty-eight years and upwards. 

" Q. Had you any public employment during 
" the Spanish government ? 

% A. I was Regidor in 1784and in 1787; I was 
" also Alcalde de Barrio the two following years* 
" and commandant of the quarter of La Brea 
" afterwards. 

" Q. Had you any public employments after 
" the conquest of the island, and what were they? 

" A. I was a member of a committee of seven 
" inhabitants, which was established here for the 
"judging negroes accused of poisoning : I believe 
" it was in the year 18Q0. I was Alcalde in or- 
" dinary, elected by the cabildo in the year 1 802 : 
" I was re-elected in 1 803. I am not now in 
" any public employment. 

" Q. Are you a graduated advocate ? 

"A. No. 

" Q. How came you to accept the employ- 
" ment of Alcalde, without being a graduated 
}? advocate ? 

" A. Because planters are nominated to the si- 



89 

u tuation without being a graduated advocate, 
" and obliged to accept it under penalties and 
" incapacities. 

" Q. In the several, criminal and civil suits 
" which you have decided as Alcalde, did you 
" ever call in a graduated assessor ? 

u A. It was impossible, there being none." 

Such are the depositions of the Escrivano 
Castro, Judge Nihell, Mr. Begorrar, Mr. Far- 
fan, and Mr. St. Pe, as to the opinions they 
held of the qualifications and powers of Alcaldes 
of the first and second election at the time of the 
conquest of the island. 

The next question in order is, the powers 
which it was generally, and without any con- 
tradiction, disbelief, or denial, maintained that 
the English Governor possessed in the colony. 
I shall first state the opinions of the Escrivano 
and Alcaldes as before, and then examine the 
point in another shape. 



90 



POWERS OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNOR 
IN TRINIDAD, 

ACCORDING TO THE OPINIONS OF THE ESCRIVANO, 
ALCALDES, AND CHIEF JUDGE NIHELL. 



The Escrivano Castro^ on Oath. 

" Q. After the conquest of this island by Great 
" Britain, what tribunal of the colony supplied 
" the place of the royal Audience of Caraccas ? 

" A. His Excellency the Governor. 

" Q. You have said, that after the conquest of 
" this island, the Governor supplied the place of 
" the royal Audience of the Caraccas ; on what 
" do you found such an answer ? 

" A. On the verbal declaration of the Gover- 
" nor himself." 



Mr. Begorrat) on Oath. 

" Q. What do you understand by the Superior 
'• Tribunal ? 

" A. His Excellency General Picton, in whom 
" was united all the civil and criminal power of 



91 

u the Audience of Caraccas since the capture of 
" the island. 

" Q. You consulted General Picton as the su- 
" perior trbunal, and there being no graduated 
" advocate to appeal to ? 

" A. Yes, because it was the rule of the law. 

"Q. You say that General Picton was invested 
" with all the civil and criminal authority of the 
" Audience of Caraccas : who invested him with 
" that authority, and do you know of your own 
" knowledge that he was so invested ? 

" A. I was named Alcalde of the first election 
" for the year 1 80 1 I found that my predecessors, 
" since the conquest, considered that the superior 
" tribunal was vested in his Excellency the Go- 
" vernor. I adopted the same rule of conduct, 
" because I had no authority to ask him to pro- 
" duce his commission ; all I know of my own 
" knowledge is, that in a proclamation of General 
" Abercromby's, immediately after the conquest, 
" it was stated that an appeal might be made from 
" the decisions of the tribunals of the island, when 
* the cause of action amounted to 500/. sterling, 
"to his Majesty's Privy Council in England, 
" making no rule respecting actions for inferior 
" sums in which, before the conquest, an appeal 
' might have been made to the Audience of Ca- 
" raccas. 



92 

" Q. Did that proclamation state any alteration 
" in appeals in criminal matters ? 

" A. I don't recollect 

" Q. You say that your skill in the Spanish 
" laws is derived from hooks of authority within 
" your power, and that you have no other 
" means of acquiring a knowledge of these 
" laws: according to the best of your skill, state 
" to the Court whether the supreme tribunal in- 
" tended to supply the absence of a graduated 
" advocate did not require a person at least as 
" well skilled in the laws, as that advocate, to 
" fill such situation ? 

" A. No, as an English Governor. 

" Q. Did General Picton, as suck superior 
" tribunal, order Louisa Calderon to be picketted? 

" A. Certainly.' ' 



Mr. Far/an^ on Oath. 

" Q. Did you ever see the order by which 
" Don Juan Jurado* was sent off the is- 
" land ? 



* The Assessor to the former Government. 



93 

" A. I have said it was public, and / believe 
" it is in the Instructions? 

" What did you understand by the superior 
" tribunal? 

" A. The person of General Picton, in whom 
" all the powers, civil and criminal, of the Au- 
" dience of Caraccas were united. 

" Q. How do you know that General Pic- 
" ton composed the superior tribunal, and that 
" all the powers, civil and criminal, of the Au- 
" dience of Caraccas were united in him ? 

" A. Because, at the conquest of the island, 
" by the instructions left by General Aber- 
" cromby to Mr. John Nihell, he was or- 
" dered to continue the functions of his situa- 
" tion, according to the instructions of Gene- 
" ral Picton concerning civil matters, but in 
" criminal matters the sentence was to be exe- 
" cuted zvith the approbation of General Pic- 
" ton, of course that constituted him the su- 
li perior tribunal. 

" Vv r as 3Vfr. Nihell Alcalde of the first elec- 

4; tion at that period, and where are all these 

£i instructions recorded? 

" A. He was, and the instructions are co- 

<( pied into the book of the Cabildo, in which 

" all other orders and commissions- are reins- 

" toed. 



94 

" Q. Did you conceive these instructions 
" binding on you, and on all other succeeding 
" Alcaldes ? 

" A. Certainly." 



Mr. St. Pe, on Oath, 

(C Q. What did you consider after the con- 
a quest as the superior tribunal of the colony ? 

" A. General Picton, because the Audience 
" of the Caraccas had no further jurisdiction, 
u and on account of the obligation under which 
u we were placed, to refer to the approbation 
H of General Picton. 

" Q. Were any instructions of Sir Ralph 
" Abercromby's known to you respecting that 
" point ? 

" A. It was public and notorious that Gene- 
u ral Abercromby had given instructions to Ge- 
u neral Picton, but I did not see them. I 
" judged from the ample instructions given to 
" Mr. Nihell, by Sir Ralph Abercromby. " 

I have now fully and I trust satisfactorily 
shewn the legal power which the Escrivano and 
Alcaldes possessed, or conceived they possessed, 
in criminal causes, before and after the conquest. 



,95 

I have also stated their opinions of the authority 
or power with which the English Governor was 
invested by the instructions of Sir Ralph Aber- 
cromby. But as it may be objected that the 
punishment of Louisa Calderon took place in 
the latter end of the year 1801, and at a period 
when Colonel Picton had received his commis- 
sion as Governor and Captain General of the 
island, with the royal instructions for his direc- 
tion in the government of Trinidad, I have an- 
nexed a Copy of these Instructions in the Ap- 
pendix, No. II. and shall here only make an 
Extract of such parts as correspond to my pur- 
pose, which is to shew, that these instructions 
did not diminish the powers which he before pos- 
sessed by the orders of Sir Ralph Abercromby, 
and under which he acted from the 1st of 
March 1797 > until those instructions came to 
his hands in September 1801. It is directed by 
Clause the 5th as follows, 

" It is our will and pleasure, that for the pre- 
" sent the temporary administration of the island 
€< should, as nearly as circumstances will per- 
" mit, be exercised by you according to the 
" terms of the capitulation hereunto annexed, 
" in conformity to the ancient lazvs and institu- 
" tions that subsisted within the same previous to 



96 

the surrender of the said island to us, subject 
to such directions as you shall have, or here- 
after receive, from us under our Signet or Sign 
Manual, or by our order in our privy Council, 
or to such sudden or unforeseen emergencies 
as may render a departure therefrom abso- 
lutely necessary and unavoidable, and which 
you are immediately to represent to one of 
our principal Secretaries of State for our in- 
formation ; but it is nevertheless our special 
command that all the powers of the executive 
government within the said island, as well 
civil as military, shall be vested solely in 
you Our Governor, or the person having the 
government of the said island for the time 
being, And that such powers as were hereto- 
fore exercised by any person or persons sepa- 
rately or in conjunction with the government 
of the said island, shall belong solely to you 
our Governor, or to the person having the go- 
vernment of the said island for the time being ; 
and it is our will and pleasure, that all such 
public acts and judicial proceedings, which, 
before the surrender of the said island to us, 
were in the name of his Catholic Majesty, 
shall henceforth be done, issued, and per- 
formed in our name." 



97 

This Extract clearly proves that His Majesty's 
Ministers were aware of, and perfectly under- 
stood, the relation and inseparable connexion of 
the Spanish Governor of Trinidad with the royal 
Audience of Caraccas, and as they had deter- 
mined to continue the Spanish Courts of Judi- 
cature in that colony, they naturally and wisely 
armed the English Governor, or Executive, with 
the power of the superior Spanish tribunal, without 
which it is now manifest, he would have had little 
more authority than one of the Alcaldes who 
acted under him. I shall not dwell longer on 
this subject. I do not know that it has been 
questioned ; but to silence all objections on the 
business, and because I shall hereafter have occa- 
sion to refer to it, I thought it right to explain 
it. 

These material points being settled, the next 
question is, what was the criminal law that sub- 
sisted in Trinidad, previous to the surrender of 
that island ? It is ascertained, that there existed 
but two codes of Spanish law relative to the 
Spanish colonies ; or to express myself more 
correctly, that in aid of theold Spanish or Cas- 
tilian law, a compendious code was formed for 
the use and government of the Spanish West 
India colonies, by His Catholic Majesty, Charles 

H 



98 

II. in the } ; ear 1681, called, " Recopilacion de 
" Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias, Mandada 
" imprimir y publicar par la Majestad del Rey, 
" Carlos II. m%" 

This code, or compilation, did precisely what 
a code framed under such circumstances should 
do; that is, it enacted all such laws and regula- 
tions as were thought suitable, and best adapted 
to the local circumstances and particular situa- 
tion of the countries they were designed to regu- 
late or govern, but emanating as it did from 
the parent state, it was not necessary that a code 
of laws differing wholly, essentially, and entirely 
in its principles y should be framed for these colo- 
nies. This would be a piece of wild nonsense 
or madness that might have suited the Abbe 
Sieyes or the revolutionists of New France, but 
certainly did not agree with the temper and dis- 
position of the Monarch of Old Spain in the year 
1681, and accordingly we find in the outset, in 
the royal preface to vol. I. page 4. or decla- 
ratory law signed by the king, that it simply 
and clearly declares its object, and the limits of 
that object; it says 



99 

Recopilacion de las Leyes de las Indias Carlos 
II. 1681. 

Ley que cleclara la autoridad que han detener 
las leyes de esta Recopilacion. 



" Que las Indias sean Gobernadas 
u solamente por las Leyes de esta Recopila- 
* l cion, guardando, en defecto de Ellas, lo or- 
" dinado por Ley 2f. Titulo 1\ Libro secundo 
" de esta Recopilacion." 

Which Extract translated runs thus, 

" The Indies are to be governed by the 
" laws contained in this Recopilacion, hav- 
" ing recourse, where they are silent 
" or defective, to what is ordered by 
" the 2d Law, 1st Title, and 2d book of 

" THIS ReCOPILACJON." 

This second law alluded to is as follows, 

Ley % Titulo 1°. Libro 2°. 

" Que se guarden las Leyes de Castilia en 
" lo que no estuviere decidido por las Leyes de 

r las Indias. 



H 2 



100 

a Ordinamos y Mandamos que en todos los 
" cases, negoeios, y Pieytos, en que no estuvi- 
" ere decidido ni deelarado lo que se debe pro- 
" veer por las L'eyes de esta Recopilacion, o por 
" Cedulas, Provision es o Ordinanzas dadas, y 
" no rev ocadas para las Indias, y las que por 
" nuestra Qrden se despacharen, se guarden las 
" Leyes de nuestro Reyno de Castilia, con* 
" forme a la Ley de Toro, asi en quanto a la sub* 
" stancia, resolucion, y decision de los Casos, 
" Negocios y Pleytos, como a la forma y Or* 
*' den de substancias." 

' , TRANSLATED. 

6e The Laws of Castile are to be observed iri all 
" cases not determined by the laws of the Indies. 

c ' In all cases, affairs, and causes, the deter- 
" mination and judgement of which cannot be 
" found in the laws of the Recopilacion, or in 
" the Cedulas, Diplomas, or Ordinances given for 
" the Indies and not repealed, and those we may 
" hereafter dispatch, we do order and command 
il Xh^tthe laws of our Realms of Caftile be adhered 
iC to. conformably to a law of Toro, for the sub- 
" stance, resolution, and decision of affairs and 
<c causes, as well as the form and order of the pro- 
" ceedings," 



101 

Again, in Book 2. Title 2. Law. 13. 

Ley 13. Titulo Q. Libro fc 

" Que las Leyes que se hizieren para las In- 
" dias sean lo mas conformes que ser pudiere 
" a lasde estos Reynos." 

TRANSLATED. 

st That the laws to be made for the govern- 
" ment of the Indies be as conformable as pos- 
" sible to those of these kingdoms." 

Libro 2. Titulo 15. Ley 17. 

In Book &. Title 15. Law 17. 

" Que en las Audiencias de las Indias se gu- 
" arden las Ceremonias de las Chancillerias de 
" estos Reynos de Castilia, en lo que no estu- 
" viere especialmente determinado." 

TRANSLATED. 

" That the Audiences of the Indies conform 
" to the ceremonies observed by the Chance- 
" ries of these our kingdoms of Castile, or 
" whatever is not especially determined by the 
:< Recopilacion.'* 



Libro % Titulo 15. Ley 66. 

Books. Title 15. Law 66. 

" Mandamos a las Audiencias que en el cono- 
" cimiento de los negocios y pleytos, civiles 
" y criminates guarden las leyes de estos nu- 
" estros reynos de Castilia en los casos que por 
" las de este libro no huviessemos dado especial 
" determinacion, y provean de forma que los 
" delitos no queden sin castigo dentro y fuera 
"> de las cinco leguas." 

TRANSLATED. 

" It is our commands that the Audiences, in 
" the cognizance they take of all affairs and 
" causes, civil and criminal, conform to the 
" laws of these our kingdoms of Castile, and 
"whatever is not specially determined by the 
" laws of this book, and they are to take care 
" that crimes do not go unpunished within 
" their jurisdictions," 

Libro 7- Titulo 8. Ley 3. de la Recopiiacion de 

Indias. 

Book 7. Title 8. Law 3. of the Recopiiacion of 
the Indies. 

€C Somos informados que en las Indias hay 
u muchos Testigos falsos, que por mui poco 



103 

" interes se perjuran en los Pleytos y Negocios 
" que se ofrecen, y con facilidad los hallan quar- 
u tosse quieren aprovechar de sus deposiciones : 
" — y porque este deli to es grande ofensa de Dios 
te nuestro Senor, y nuestra, y perjuicio de las 
" partes, Mandamos a las Audiencias y Justicias 
" que con mui particular atencion provean 
" averiguar los que cometen este delito, casti- 
te gando con todo rigor a los Delinquentes 
" conforme a las Leyes de nuestros Reynos de 
" Castilia pues tanto importa de Servicio de Dio£ 
" y Execucion de Justicia." 

TRANSLATED* 



(9 



" We are informed, that in the Indies there 

are many false witnesses, who for trifling 

" reward perjure themselves in the suits and 

" processes which offer, and that they are easily 

" procured by those who are desirous of bene- 

u fiting by these depositions ; and because this 

' crime is a great offence against God and 

" ourselves, and of great injury to the parties, 

'? we order all Audiences, Justices, &c. that 

" they search out and discover those who com- 

iC mit this crime, punishing with every degree of 

\ rigor the delinquents, conformable to the laws 

' of our kingdoms of Castile; it being important 



104 

:< to the service of God and the execution of 
" justice. " 

Let us now state the laws of the kingdom of 
Castile, as far as they relate to the subject of 
my Address, I mean that of picket, or torture. 

Recopilacion de las Leyes de estos Reynos hec- 
has por mandado de Sa Mqjestad Catolica Don 
Philipo 2° nues tro senor, Madrid 1581. Libro £* 

Titulo 7. Ley 13. 

Recopilacion of the Laws of these Kingdoms,, 
(or of Castile) made by order of His Catholic 
Majesty, Philip II. Madrid 1581. Book % 
Title?. Law 13. 

" Que los Alcaldes no condenar a question 
" de tormento sin preceder sentencia ; y a los 
* v hidalgos los guarden sus privilegios, y sin 
ct embargo de qualquier costumbre o estilo 
iC guarden lo que es derecho en esto. 

" Porque somos informados que los Alcaldes 
" quando mandan poner a question de toi*- 
" mentOy no dan sentencia ni la firman, porque 
u no se puede ver si son conformes o no, para 
" que el condenado pueda suplicar o alegar de 
" su derecho, y que lo mismo se ha accustum 



105 

" brado en todas las otras justicias, aunque 
" sean de muerte, y que solamente dan un 
'* mandamiento para que el 9 alquacil execute 
" sin notificar lo al delinquent^ porque no 
" apele, y que han attormentado a muchos hi- 
" dalgosy aunque no sean casos enormes, y 
" porque esto es causa mui grave, y contra 
" todo derecho y leyes, mandamos que sin 
" embargo de qualquier costumbre o estilo que 
" en esto pretenden tener, ellos y los pasados, 
" en el procedes y terminar los negocios asi ci- 
" viles como criminaies guarden las leyes y 
" mandamientos de nuestros Reynos y no 
" exceden de ellos/' 



TRANSLATED. 

" The Alcaldes are not to condemn to the 
j question or torment without sentence ; viz. 

" Being informed that the Alcaldes, when 
" they order the application of the question or 
" torment, do not give previous sentence and 
" sign it, so that there is no seeing whether 
" they act conformably or no, that the con- 
;i demned might petition or allege his right, 
:; and that the same is the custom in all cases,* 



106 

" even those affecting life ; and that they only 
" give an order to the alguazil to execute it 
" without notifying it to the delinquent that 
" he might not appeal ; and that they have 
" tormented many esquires, or hidalgos, even in 
" cases of no enormity. And as this is a most 
" serious case, and contrary to the laws, we or- 
u der, that notwithstanding any custom they 
" now pretend to have, in the proceeding and 
" determination of all affairs, civil or criminal, 
" they keep the laws and ordinances of these 
* c kingdoms, and do not exceed them." 

Libro 6. Tit*. 2% Ley 4. 

Book 6. Title 2. Law 4. 

u Ordinamos que ningun hijodalgo pueda ser 
** preso ni encarcilado por deuda que deva, 
" salvo sino fuere arrendador o cogidof de nu- 
" estros pechos y derechos, porque en tal caso 
<c el mismo quebranta su libertad. Y asimis- 
•' mo mandamos que ningun hijodalgo pueda 
" ser puesto a torment o porque antiguamente 
" fue asi otorgado por fuero." 

TRANSLATED. 

" We order that no esquire or hidalgo be ar- 
* rested or imprisoned for any debts he may 



107 

e have contracted except as renter, or collec- 
" tor of our revenues, in which wise, he is 
" the vitiator of his own liberty ; and we also 
" order 'that no esquire to be put to the torment, 
" for such was anciently his privilege*" 

Thus far the laws of the Recopilacion for the 
Indies, and those of the kingdom of Castile, 
on which they are founded. As for the Trinidad 
Cedula, it merely contains an enumeration of 
the advantages or grants of land, and commer- 
cial privileges, to such as were inclined to become 
settlers in that colony, and does not mention, in 
a single instance, the laws, either civil or cri- 
minal. 

If the learned gentleman who talked of those 
laws, and made those bold assertions, had, "by 
<c the help of his French," taken the trouble to 
inspect and construe, as he said he could, the two 
codes of laws between which he maintained there 
is such an essential difference and distinction, he 
would have found, that the objects of both are 
directed to similar ends and purposes, that they 
are framed on similar principles, that is to say, 
they both enact and repeal certain laws and 
prdonnances, but looking to great leading prin- 
ciples they both state general provisos or excep- 



108 

lions. I have already shewn, in the Royal Pre- 
face or Declaratory Law of the Recopilacion de 
las Indias, page 100, that " in all cases, affairs? 
il and causes, the determination and judgement of 
(i which cannot be found in the laws of the 
" Recopilacion, or in the cedulas t diplomas, or 
" ordinances, given for the Indies, and not re- 
" pealed, and those we may hereafter dispatch, 
" we do order and command, that the laws of 
" our realms of CASTILE be adhered to coru 
" formably to the LAW OF TORO, for the 
" substance, resolution, and decision of affairs and 
u causes." In precisely the same temper, spirit, 
and principle does the declaratory law of the Re- 
copilacion de Castilia, Libro 1. Folio 1. (which 
declares the authority which the laws of that 
book are to have, ) refer to the Particlas, and the 
Law of Toro. 

This declaratory law pe Castilia is as fol- 
lows, and is extracted from the " Recopilacion 
" de las Leyes de estos Reynos hechas por Man- 
" dado de la Majestad Catolica del Rey Don 
" Philipo Segundo nuestro Senor. 1581." 

TRANSLATED. 

" A Recopilacion of the Laws of these King- 
if doms, madeby Order of His Catholic Majesty, 
" King Philip II, in the Year 1581." . 



109 

" Contienense en este Libro las Leyes hechas 
" hasta Fin del ano de mil y quinientos y ochento 
" y uno excepto las Leyes dePartiday delFuero, 
<e y del Estilo y tambien vean en el las Visitas 
" de las Audiencias. 

" Con Privilegio de Sa Majestad." 

TRANSLATED. 

" There are contained in this book the laws 
" made until the end of the year 1581, except 
il the Laws of the Partida, the Fuero, and 
" D'Estiio; and there are likewise contained 
si in it the Visitation of the Audiences. 

" With permission of His Majesty." 

Libro 1. Folio L 

" Ley y Pragmatiea que declara la autoridad 
" que ban de tener las Le}^es de este Libro. 

11 Executense las Leyes de este Libro, aunque 

tc sean differentes o contrarias alas otras Leyes o 

V. Capitulos de Cortes y Pragmatiea que antes el 

/' ahora ha havido en estos Reynos ; los quales 

4< queremos que de aqui adelante no tengan 



no 

84 autoridad alguna, ni se juzque per ellas, sino 
** solamente por las cle este libro, guardando en 
?f lo que toca a las Leyes de las Siete Partidas y 
4i del Fuero lo que por la Ley de Toro esta 
" dispuesto y ordenado : y quedando asi mismo 
€C en sa fuerza y vigor las Cedulas y Visitas que 
iC tienen las Audiencias en lo que nofueren con* 
* £ trarias alas Leye^ de este Libro," 

TRANSLATED. 

Book I. Folio i. 

tc Law which declares the authority which 
i& the laws of this book are to have. 

6 ' These law r s are to be obeyed although they 
" may be different and contrary to the other 
fC laws, pragmatic sanctions, &c. which have 
** hitherto obtained in these kingdoms, and 
" which it is Our Will from henceforth shall be 
iC of no authority, nor shall they judge by them 
,( but solely by those of this book, conforming 
11 in whatever respects the Laws of the Partidas 
** and Fuera, to what is ordained and directed by 
41 the Law of Toro. And the Cedules and 
M Visitations of the Audiences are to remain in 






Ill 

*A full force and vigor, when they are not eon-* 
* c trary to the laws of this book." 

Let my reader compare the declaratory laws., 
or royal prefaces, signed by the King, of both 
codes here stated, and he will immediately feel a 
perfect conviction that they are founded on the 
same principle. The Recopilacion de las Indicts 
refers to the " Laws of the realms of Castile in 
' ' every thing that is not found in the Recopila- 
" cion de las Indias." What necessity, there- 
fore, was there to enact criminal laws in that 
Recopilacion? It tells you where they are to be 
found ; it neither changes or alters, but actually 
adopts, orders, and commands their practice and 
enforcement. Mr. G. might as well tell me, that 
the laws of torture were abrogated and abolished 
by the Recopilacion of Castile, because there is no 
particular specification of the particular statutes 
for torture, and simply contains the exceptions 
which I have adduced respecting the Alcaldes 
condemning to the question " without sentence." 
u And that no Esquire be put to the torment,* 
referring always or " conforming in whatever re- 
" spects the Lazvs of the Partidas and Fuero to, 
u what is ordained and directed by the Law of 
*' Toro." I shall not strengthen this argument 
Jay saying, that in both cases, Kvceptio probat 



112 

Regulam; but having an opinion of Mr. G.'s 
profundity, I shall refer him to the laws of the 
Parti das, Fuero, and D'Estilo for their detail of 
those particular laws on the subject of torture, 
and leave to myself a future opportunity .of 
prating to Mr. G., from law authorities beyond 
doubt or controversy, that torment continued in 
1802 to be the Law of Spain, and consequently, 
as I have maintained and proved, the law of 
Trinidad. Should I take up the examination of 
this question on a broader principle than I 'have 
thought necessary to do in this statement, I hope 
to be able to give a more copious view of the laws 
than the narrow limits of this paper will permit me. 
But I trust I have adduced sufficient authority 
to prove the particular point which I intended, 
and which I here maintain, viz. That the cri- 
minal laws of Old Spain are neither abrogated, 
repealed, or superseded by the lazvs of the Reco- 
pilacion de las Indias, upon the assertion of which 
Mr. G. obtained a verdict; and that these laws 
are as fully, completely, and substantially in force 
in the colonies, as they are in the heart of the 
capital of Madrid, where I have indisputable 
living evidence that punishments to extort con- 
fession are at this moment in use and practice." 



113 

I am aware that this part of my subject is dry 
and uninteresting; I shall not trespass much 
longer on my reader's patience, and shall solicit 
his attention to the followiug enumeration of 
those old Spanish law books of authority which 
J were received and acted upon as such in the 
colony of Trinidad. These are Elizondo, Curia. 
Philipica, Bobadilia, and Colom. 

These books are chiefly commentaries on the 
Recopilacion of Castile, and the Partidas ; I 
shall state such laws from these authorities a& 
appear to appertain to my subject 



Curia Philipica, No. 16*. Folio 227- 

cc The accomplice in a crime is not a sufficient An aceom* 
" evidence against another (his companion) sufficient 
" agreeable to a law de Partida, except in crimes IxJpUn 
" of high treason, coining, that against nature, robb«y°, 
" notorious theft, and in all those which cannot thefti&< 
" be committed without accomplices. In all 
" which cases being admitted, he is to be fully 
" examined in the cause of him against whom he 
" gives testimony." 

Antonio Gomes, 



114 



Curia Philipica, No. 2. Folio 229. 
Theques- <\ The question of torment is to be applied 

tion to be * r r 

applied m " for confirmation and proof, there not being: 

confirma- 
tion, where " sufficient." 

the proof is 
notsufficient 

Curia Philipica, No. 4. Folio 229* 
in crime* « j n t] ie same crimes for which the question is 

where the - 1 

question is « applicable to the delinquent, in the same it is 

applicable . 

applicable to the witness who varies or preva- 
ricates in his evidence, or who denies the truth, 
sswho " or who refuses to declare it, there being a pre- 
is sumption that he knows it, not being of those 
" persons to whom the torment cannot be ap- 
ei plied, according to a law of Partida and its 
4 ' Gregorian Glossary. 

" And in the same crimes for which the tor- 
" ment is applicable to the delinquent, in case an 
" evidence of low vile character and bad morals 
" is admitted, he is to testify under torment, 
" otherwise his evidence is of no validity." 

Lazv de Partida, 



to the de 
Jinquent, it 
is applica- ce 

cable fro the 
witne 
pre van- 



115 



Curia Philipica, No, 12. Folio 230. 

11 The torment that may be ordered to the The que*. 
delinquent for the crime, may also be ordered e d to there- 
to force a declaration from his accomplices (if the q Se° r 
there be appearance or presumption that he ™% r ed°to e 

force a de= 



from the 
accomplice. 



" had any) in crimes of high treason, coining, clarat 
f that against nature, theft, &c., as well as in 
" all others which cannot be committed without 
" accomplices ; in all which those who are so 
" may be admitted as evidences." 

Antonio Gomes, 



Elizondo Pratica Universal Forense Judicio 
Criminal, No. 12. Folio 277- 

" The appearances to authorise the appli- Appear- 

ti r i • tiii ♦ i ancestoan- 

r cation of the question should be weighty, thorizeth© 
ts apparent, urgent, and probable, and not light, ^^ 10Ii * 
" doubtful, and equivocal, except in hidden 

* crimes, and of difficult proof, such as theft, 
H sodomy, crimes committed at night, coining, 

* &c, in which the slightest are sufficient to 
" authorise a departure from the ordinary forms 
" of law, and the receiving of such proofs as 
" can be met with," 



I 2 



116 



Ehzondo Pratlca Universal Forense, Judicw 
Criminal^ No. 5. Folio 275. 

" To know what appearances are sufficient, 

" and without which satisfactorily proved, the 

" torment cannot be ordered, except in atro- 

" cious crimes, or the accused refusing to an- 

slight ap- " swer the questions affirmatively or nega- 

autSze 3 <c tively, or the persons against whom the sus- 

tionTnhT " picions exist, being entrusted with the care 

gainstTper- " of property, of a town, or an inn-keeper, 

eTwTthThT "for thefts committed in the places under 

pertyltoien. " their charge" Vide Farmacio de Judiciis. 

Curia Fhilipica, Judicio Criminal, No. IS, 
Folio 230. 

i( The species of torment, and the quality, 

" is not determined by the law, but left to the 

" arbitrament of the Judge, according to the 

Small cord? " complexion of the delinquent, the crime, 

ZihfeT " and its appearances, though he should not 

Socket! " ma ^ e use °f liew torments, but the usual 

a9 uemf oc- " ones, such as dropping of water, small cords 

ca-ionioss « an d p U H e ys, and of such nature." Vide 

Laxv de Partida and Gregorio Lopes, 



117 



Bobadilia de la Politica, Folio 964. No. 22-. 

" In high treason, theft, robbery, parricide, incase-of 
u and crimes of an atrocious nature, the sus- bery' &c. 

. . . , n the suspi- 

u picions being strong, and the accused har- dons being 

r . . , strong, and 

" dened, lawyers are or opinion that unsual the accused 

i t i j» hardened, 

" torments may be applied. unusual tor- 

ments may 

be applied, 

Bobadilia, Folio 965. No. 25. 

u In applying the torment juridically, though [h/ P u P e^oI 
44 the criminal should die, or lose the use of his juridically, 

though loss 

" limbs, the Judge cannot be answerable for it, <>fi«nbsand 

' # to m life should 

" according to common opinion, and a Law de ensue, the 

° < \ Judge is not 

" Partida, which says, ' if the Judge order any responsible; 
" man to be tormented for any offence he may proof of the 

• 1 . i t . t severity of 

r have committed, in order to discover the theques- 
" truth, he cannot be answerable for anyingtothe 
" wounds he may have received.' And I well XdTof ap - 
" remember, that in the jail of this Court, an pymglts 
" assassin died under torment, and another had 
" his arms broken, without any consequences." 



Curia Philipica, Judicio Criminal, Folio 231. 

No. 16. 

" There are to be present at the torment 
jf only the Judge, Escrivano, executioner and 



118 



To be pre- " person tormented. And it is to be o-iven in a 

sent at the 

question, " secret place, without any other person being 

only the ' . . l ° 

Judge, Es- " present or in hearing." 

crivano,Ex- » • j 

ecutioner, Law de Partida. 

and persons 
tormented. 

Bobadilia de Polltica, Folio 96%. No. 16. 
The judge " j n notorious, concealed, and atrocious of- 

may order ' 

the question (c fences, charged against wicked persons of 

without pre- . . 

viouscom- " evil fame, if the Judges order the question or 

munication . m 

totheac- " torment upon slight evidence or suspicion, 
" and in the information and summary mode, 
ic without communication to the accused, as 
" is the common opinion, they shall be held 
" exculpated in residencia, though Paris de 
" Puteo says, That it is only allowable to su- 
iC perior Judges and not to inferior ones : but I 
i 6 know that the contrary is the practice, and 
V in twenty-one years that I was Corregidor 
" and Judge, I always practised it in such 
" cases, and though I was accused in residen- 
iC cia, I was always acquitted. And in the 
tl superior Council, in the account that I ren- 
u dered of the Corregidorship of Soria, they 
u approved of the torment I ordered on sum- 
" mary information to Sarazola and other rob- 
" bers, whom I caused to be apprehended in 
M Navar and Arragon in the year 1773." 



119 



Bobadilia, Folio 959- No. 10. 
" If the action is for having committed any Persons 

. . T • ,r» ,i • • charged 

r one unjustly to prison, i say, it the crime is with crime* 
" of a serious nature, although the accused shall L^may 
" not have confessed it, he may not only be £°J °" ir y ons ^ 
" put in irons, but into the stocks and in chains : ^^ 
" but if it is for a slight offence, he ought not c a ^ m p e £ 
" to be put in irons," '^* e 



Bobadilia de la Politica, Folio 966. No. 26\ 

" There is another kind of complaint against 
u a Corregidor in residencia for judgements not 
" conformable to law, and this kind is divided 
u into two parts, the one when the Judge in his 
" sentence erred merely from ignorance, or 
" want of knowledge, and the other when he 
" was actuated by malice or corrupt motives. 
" With respect to the first, I say, that a Judge 
" may be punished for it, as it is a great fault 
" in any one to be ignorant of the art he pro- 
" fesses, and of the office of Judge which he J ud g es 

punishable 

" has voluntarily taken upon himself. Io*no- only for 

^ l . such false 

c f ranee of the law can excuse very few, parti- judgements 

c r» -r» as P rocee d 

'i cularly professors or the law. But many from cor- 

1 r t «•» • • i rupt mo- 

" lawyers are or a di tier-en t opinion, and say, tives. 



gfc 



tt 



120 

that Judges are punishable only for corrup- 
tion, malice, &c. and not for errors of judge- 
ment proceeding from ignorance ; and this is 
observable every day in the royal Audiences, 
for though sentences of the inferior judges 
are frequently reversed, they are not con- 
demned in any penalties." 

Bobadilia, Folio 966. No. 27. 

" For as the Judge who solicits and accepts 
an office, being incapable, commits a great 
" fault, particularly if he does not examine the 
" facts and study the law that he may conform 
u to it, (for inferior judges are tied down to the 
" law,) so that if through ignorance, impru- 
" dence, negligence, or confidence in himself, 
" he does an injustice to the party, he may be 
" accused in residencia, and condemned in 
" whatever costs and damages the party may 
" have suffered. But according to Anores de 
" Isernia, Gregorio Lopes, and others, if the 
" Judge in the examination of facts and law 
(t used diligence, and without deceit or fraud 
" used his best endeavours, he ought not to 
" be condemned, although he may have erred 
" in some things, for the defect proceeds from 



121 

u the imbecility of human nature, and ought 
" to be pardoned.'' 

Bobadilia, Folio 970. No. 31. 
" In what touches the satisfaction that the An elected 

. -, -i Magistrate 

u Judge m conscience ought to make in the who !S com- 

i • r» i i v pelled to 

" above cases, I say, that it through malice, accept of 
V he prejudiced or injured the party, he ought notLpon- 
<£ to be obliged to satisfy him fully to the ex- iag«&r 
ii tent of the injury, but, if through ignorance Judgement. 
" only, then there is this distinction, if the 
ci Judge solicited and sought the office, he is 
Ci subject to costs and damages, but if, on the 
" contrary, he was elected or compelled to 
tl accept of it, he shall not be obliged to pay 
" any thing." 



Bobadilia de Politica, Folio 9%6. No. 6*4. 

" Those whom a Judge had condemned or Tho3e 

. whom the 

imprisoned, are not sufficient evidences against Judge con- 
him, (in residencia) because they are actu- imprisoned, 
" ated against him by hatred, and always per- SLSte^' 
" suade themselves that the condemnation and JjE him. 
" imprisonment were unjust, and that the 
" Judge was the accuser. And naturally then 
" with facility, justify and pardon themselves, 



122 

$ and inculpate and calumniate the Judges who 
" either condemned or imprisoned them. And 
" for either of those causes it is natural to pre- 
u sume that they are actuated by hatred 
" against them," 



Bobadilia, Folio 9%6. No. 65. 



:i Persons of low and vile character and repu- 



Persons of 
low, vile 

character <c tation, or unknown, ought not to be admit- 

cannot be • . , .. A 

admitted e- (l ted witnesses, even with torment against offi- 

ven with 

torment, as Ci 

evidences . i • i • i 

egamst a kC cording to law they may be admitted with tor- 

cased in 

residencia. 



a 



cers of justice, under residencia, though ac- 
cording to law they may be admitted with tor 
ment against other persons in criminal causes. 



BobadUia, Folio 923- No. 54. 



The ac- 
cuser, or 
instigator 

cannot be 
admitted. 



Si The accuser, denunciator, promoter, or 
" instigator, or who dictated the articles of ac- 
" cusation for another to present, for the same 
" doctrines and reasons cannot be admitted an 
" evidence for the other accusers/' 



The jkIvo- . 
pate or at- 
torney for 

the accuser U 
cannot be 
admitted. 



BobadUia, Folio 923. No. 55. 

" The advocate or attorney of the accusers, 
although not employed in the cause for which 



123 

2 they bear evidence, cannot be admitted as 
" evidence free of exception." 

Bobadilia, Folio 925. No. 62. 

" The conspirator, and conjurator, to pro- 
66 mote the residencia and accuse the Jud^e, 
u and assist with their persons, money, coun- 
" sel, or other means, cannot be admitted as 
" unexceptionable evidence." 

Colom. Book 2. Folio 143. 
Colom. Tom. 2. Folio 143. 

u El Juez imperito en letras o en derecho es 
u llamado Lego, y en los Pleytos y Causas que 
ie pendieren ante el deve assessorarse o accompa- 
cc narse con Advogado aprobado, siendo sobre 
" algun articulo que consista su determinacion 
" en pun to de derecho y en las sentencias 
ec dehnitivas, dando antes noticia a las partes 
" interessadas del Assessor que nombrare para 

que si quisiessen innovarle de su derecho 
" o recusarle por sospechoso para que el Juez 
" nombre otro, por ser esta de su Eleccion 
(c o arbitrio en virtud de la Ley 2° Titulo 21. 
66 Partida 3. — pero para los demas proveidos que 
" atienden al ritual del Pleyto no se necessita ni 
'* pratica assessorarse de Letrado, sino solo del 



<< 



,124 

" Escrivano de el, por ser de su Obligacion a 
" saberlo y evitar costas y diligericias." 

TRANSLATED. 

" The Judge who is not educated to the pro- 
" fession of the law is called Lego, and in all 
tc processes and causes carried on before him, 
" he is required to assessorate or accompany 
" himself by a graduated advocate when he 
€l decides on points of law, and in definitive 
" sentences, giving notice to the parties in- 
" terested of the Assessor named, that if they 
" choose they may except to, or refuse him 
" as suspicious, that the Judge may name an- 
" other, which is at his election and arbitrament, 
" in virtue of Law 2d. Title 21. Partidae 3 — - 
" but for all other provisions which respect 
ci the ritual of the cause, it is not the practice to 
" make use of a graduated Assessor, but only of 
u the Escrivano of the cause, whose duty it is 
" to understand it, and to avoid costs and da- 
" mages" 



The code of criminal law existing in the 
island at the time of the conquest, being thus 



U5 

fully and fairly laid down to my reader, and the 
proceedings which were taken in the case of Louisa 
Calderon being circumstantially detailed, the pub- 
lic are now to judge whether His Majesty's gra- 
cious instructions were fulfilled, that is, whether 
" the temporary administration of the island was, 
" as nearly as circumstances permitted, ex- 
" ercised by Colonel Picton according to the 
€C terms of the capitulation hereunto annexed, 
" in conformity to the ancient laws and institu- 
iC tions that subsisted within the same, previous 
'- to the surrender of the said island to us," &a 
&c. in the particular case of Louisa Calderon. 



But for a further and additional proof of this 
most important part of the question, I shall 
again have recourse to that undefiied source of 
information, " the proceedings before the Court 
" at Port of Spain," present, His Excellency 
the Lieutenant Governor. 



The Escrivano Castro, on Oath* 



" Q. Did you attend Mr. Begorrat in his 
character as Judge at any, and what times, 



126 

" when Louisa Calderon was put on the 
" picket? 

" A. Yes, the time will appear in the pro- 
" ceedings. 

tc Q. Was Louisa Calderon placed on the 
u picket, examined as a witness, or as an ac- 
" cessary? 

" A. Not as a witness, but as an accessary. 

" Q. What are the extrajudicial examina- 
Ci tions which are omitted in the examination of 
cc Carlos Gonzales taken before the tribunal of 
" Mr. Begorrat, and why are they omitted ? 

f€ A. I remember they were concerning the 
Ci discovery of the robbery and the fornication 
" aforesaid. I do not know why they were omit- 
M ted. I cannot charge the fault on the Judge, 
■" or on myself because both of us acted so as to 
6 c bring the affair to as speedy a determination as 
'" possible^ and to discover the truth. 

" Q. Do you believe that the defendant, 
" Colonel Picton, acted in the whole of the 
" prosecution, respecting the robbery of Pedro 
" Ruiz, with impartiality, and without being 
" influenced by any other consideration what- 
" soever, than the attainment of the ends of 
" justice? 



127 

- c A, Yes, I believe so. 

" Q. Did not the defendant, Colonel Pie ton % 
" administer justice generally as far as his knovv- 
*' ledge went in the Spanish law? 

" A. I believe so. 

" Q. Did the defendant ever give you any 
" orders respecting the torturing of Louisa Cal- 
" deron? 

ct A. None but the decree. 

" Q. Did he interest himself in any way, on 
il the subject? 

" A. Simply as he considered all the affairs of 
" justice. 



Fallot the Jailer, on Oath. 

" Q. Had you ever any. communication 
" either directly or indirectly with Brigadier 
" General Picton, respecting the prisoner, 
" Louisa Calderon, after her first commit- 
" ment? 

" A. General Picton never spoke to me about 
" her, nor did I ever receive any orders from 
" him about her. 



128 



Bon Hilariot Begorrat^ on Oath. 

ec Q. During* the proceedings by you, as 
" Judge, did General Pic ton interfere in any 
" manner as the superior Judge, and did he 
" chalk out to you any formalities, or neces- 
" sary measures to adopt? 

" A. No, some time in the course of the 
" proceeding he asked me if the money was 
" found, but nothing else. 

Don Francisco de Farfan^ on Oath. 

u Q. Did General Pic ton ever give you any 
C£ orders to put Louisa Calderon in irons, or in 
" any manner interfere respecting her confine- 
"' ment? 

" A. No, in no circumstance whatever., 

" Q. Did you finish the prosecution of Louisa 
« Calderon? 

" A. Yes, as far as to the final sentence. 

" Q. Did it appear to you that she had been 
u justly committed and sentenced? 

" A. It would be ridiculous to think that she 
" was not guilty, after the proofs in the pro- 
" cess, wherein it appears that she introduced 



t( Carlos Gonzales, with whom she had cama} 
€i intercourse, into the room of Pedro Ruiz." 

I believe I have now travelled 'through the 
whole of this question^ as far as the laws of Old 
Spain, and those of the Reeopilacion for the 
West India colonies are concerned. I have de- 
monstrated from them., and from persons who 
practised those laws under the eye and cogni- 
zance of the Spanish Governor, and the Royal 
Audience of Caraccas, what those laws are, and 
how, and in what manner they were exercised. 
I- have laid down those legal authorities, which 
from undoubted testimony, were proved to have 
been the chief source and guide of Spanish prac- 
titioners in Trinidad. I have quoted the cri- 
minal laws of Old Spain, of Castile, and of Par- 
tidas; I have proved their application to that 
Island: I have examined the Reeopilacion de las 
Indias, on which the counsel for the prosecution 
laid so much stress, and on the misapplication 
and perversion of which, and on this alone, I 
maintain that thej obtained a verdict. I have 
made out clearly and explicitly that by no rule^ 
law, or regulation, contained in that compilation, 
as I have said before, " are the criminal laws of 
" Old Spain abrogated, repealed, or superseded^ 
£ arid that those laws are as fully, completely. 



1 SO 

u and substantially in force in the colonies, as 
" they are in the heart of the capital at Madrid, 
16 where I have indisputable living evidence, 
" that punishments to extract confession, are at 
" this moment in use and practice." 

I have shewn how far the power of the for- 
mer Governors extended ; I have pointed out it's 
inseparable connexion with, and it's obedience 
in all definitive sentences to, the Royal Audience 
of Caraccas. I have stated the transactions 
which occurred at the conquest, the material 
and vital changes which took place at that time, 
in the very essence of those laws. I have ad- 
duced the instrument by which that overthrow 
was effected. I have printed Judge Niheli's in- 
structions, and notwithstanding the use and ex- 
ercise of their laws and ancient institutions 
thereby given, I have manifested that at the 
very moment in which Sir Ralph Abercromby 
was, with that wisdom and humanity which be- 
longed to him, granting the inhabitants this li- 
beral gift, he felt himself so encompassed with 
difficulties and distresses arising from, and out 
of, the former misgovernment; that he is be- 
trayed into a seeming inconsistence and indiscre- 
tion, which a superficial observer may arraign 
and condemn, but which, on a nearer investiga- 



131 

tion, he will find to have been the result of a 
discriminating intelligence, of a perfect and just 
comprehension of the people, the place, and the 
circumstances, which he was called to direct. 

By considering the kind and quality of this 
population, by combining the circumstances of 
a weak and miserable Government, by looking 
at the evil consequences which a system of mis- 
rule, chicane, and disorder, had produced upon 
this ill-organized rabble, the reader will then be 
able to appreciate the good sense, and excellent 
understanding, which directed that great man 
to give such large discretionary authority, to 
a person, whom he thought would exercise (as 
I flatter myself Colonel Picton did, ) that large 
authority to the best and most useful purposes. 
It is evident that Sir Ralph's principle, of acting 
in this determination, arose entirely from consi- 
dering the confusion, anarchy, disunion, and 
disorder, which he saw prevalent in the coun- 
try, and he wisely concluded, that an active 
and honorable man, left unfettered in the forms 
of administration, or even in the extent of his 
powers, was just in that situation in which a 
person should be placed in the colony, after he 
had once formed (contrary to the expectation 
expressed in His Majesty's instructions to him, ) 

k 2 



132 

any hope of retaining the possession. He said 
to Colonel Picton, and the expression was 
well known to have been repeated to many, 
" I have placed you in a trying and delicate si- 
" tuation, and to give you any chance of over- 
il coming the difficulties opposed to you, I can- 
" not leave you a strong garrison, but I shall 
" give you ample powers." He said "execute 
" Spanish law as well as you can. Do justice 
" according to your conscience, and that is all 
" that can be expected from you. His Majes- 
" ty's Government will be minutely informed of 
" your situation, and no doubt will make all 
" due allowances." 

If any testimonies were wanting to shew the 
general state of the island at the period of the 
conquest, the alarming degree of insubordina- 
tion which revolutionary principles had produ- 
ced among such a discordant and heterogenous 
mass of materials, as the population of the island 
afforded, I would refer my reader to them in the 
Appendix, No. III. in which, from the same 
source of authority, (the depositions on oath of 
the most respectable persons of the island at 
the time,) this state is fully proved. But my op- 
ponents may say, this is not to your particular 
design ; our subject is Louisa Calderon, and nbt 



133 

the state of the colony. To such persons I shall 
observe, that I have already, from the magis- 
trate's declarations, or interrogations on oath, 
I mean a copy of the process itself ^against 
Louisa Calderon, from the evidence of all 
those persons concerned in it, from the Escri- 
vano Castro, the Alcalde Don Hilario Begor- 
rat, who commenced the process, and who re* 
commended the punishment to the Governor, 
and who saw it inflicted, from the other Alcalde, 
Don Josef Farfan, who concluded the proceed- 
ings; from the acknowledgment of the culprit 
herself in her extrajudical examinations; from 
the testimony on oath of the jailer, Vallot; from 
the united declaration of every man who had a 
part in it, that the proceedings were carried on 
with an observance of the most cautious and 
regular forms. I have proved also from the 
evidence of the Escrivano, who on this occasion 
ought certainly to be considered an impartial 
witness,* from those of the Alcaldes, and the 

* He was prosecuted by order of the two Commissioners in, 
Council, Sir Samuel Hood and Colonel Picton, for illegally 
and collusively delivering up the records of the colony, of 
which he was tne sworn keeper, to Mr. Fullarton. He was 
tried "before the Alcaldes, and dismissed from his regidorship 
of the Cabildo, suspended from the office of Escrivano, and 
fined 330 dollars, costs of suit, &c. 



134 

jailer Vallot, that Colonel Picton did not inter- 
fere in the smallest, in any part of the pro- 
cess, and conducted himself throughout with 
that impartiality that became his station, " with- 
" out being influenced by any other consider- 
u ation than the attainment of the ends of 
" justice,"! and in the teeth of those incredi- 
bly villainous and scandalous reports, which 
have been circulated on this point,J from all 
those, I say, I feel confident, that I have so 
far performed the promise I made to the public, 
in the beginning of this letter, viz. " that so 
" far^ from any violation being offered to the 
6t laws which Colonel Picton was directed to 
6C administer in the case of Louisa Calderon, 
" the most minute and scrupulous observance 
" of the most minute and scrupulous forms of 
" that law, was rigidly adhered to throughout; 
" and that in every connexion and relation in 
<( which it can be viewed, it will be pronounced 
" according to the laws of the tribunal under 

t Castro's own words. 

X I have requested a friend to ask Colonel Picton, if he 
ever saw Louisa Calderon either before, or since the day of 
her commitment to jail for the robbery. He assured him, on 
his honor, he never did, nor from that day, until he saw her 
in Westminster Hall. 



135 

** which she was born, and under which the 

" habits of her mind and feelings took their 

" rise, a fair, impartial, just, and honorable 

" trial." 

I have taken no notice of some insinuations 
that have been spread abroad respecting the 
treatment of Louisa Calderon in prison, and 
the length of time she was confined there : 
for correct information on the first point, I 
refer my reader to Appendix, No. IV. And 
as to the second, the reader has had from 
Castro the Escrivano's own declaration on oath, 
page 126, " that no fault is to be laid either to 
" the Judge, or himself, that they botti acted so 
ec as to bring the affair to as speedy a termination 
" as possible, and to discover the truths Inde- 
pendent of this, an inspection of the process, No. 
I. Appendix, will convince the reader, from the 
dates in the margin, that the detention in jail 
was the inevitable consequence of the minute 
attention to the forms and procedure of the Spa- 
nish law, and cannot be charged as a a fault either 
on the Escrivano, the Alcaldes, or the Governor. 
The objection of a defensor is, I conclude, given 
up on the part of the prosecution as untenable ; 
and as to Louisa Calderon being under age* 



136' 

tlie attempt to prove this circumstance is so 
creditable to the genius of Mr. Fullarton and 
his Assessors, Mr. Smith, alias Vargas, alias, alias, 
and Mr. Juan Monies, that I reserve it for par- 
ticular elucidation. 

There is ?/ however, another point of the ques- 
tion which deserves a little more consideration, 
and I have assigned it a distinct place in my. 
investigation, from the use which has been very 
generally made of it, and from the important 
share which has been assigned to it in the 
turpitude which even some well meaning per- 
sons have thought proper to attach to this 
punishment : It is this ; that notwithstanding 
all the force of the law authorities which Ave 
have brought forward, and even granting that 
the code of the Recopilacion made no alteration 
in the old Castilian code; presuming that the 
punishment of picket, or torture* was pro- 
nounced to be legal in Trinidad; still it has 
been proved incontrovertibly, that the punish- 
ment of Louisa Calderon is the first instance 
of such a sentence being ever inflicted in that 
island. The witnesses called to prove this part 
did certainly agree upon the point; and Mr. 
Begorrat himself, at the conclusion of his decla- 
ration, page 67, candidly acknowledges, that 
it was the first time he ever had recourse to it 



137 

"during the whole time of his Alcaldeship," and 
in a period of twenty-one years that he lived in 
the island, and frequently filled that respectable 
office. 

If the objection be intended (which I presume 
it is) to insinuate, that the Spanish government 
of Trinidad, in the former administrations, was 
so conscious of the injustice of the principle, and 
of the ill effects of its practice, as to suspend the 
execution of the criminal laws in this respect ; 
if it is intended to shew that the opprobrium 
thus attached to it in the Spanish time is in- 
creased and aggravated by its being executed, 
and put in force by a decree of a British Go- 
vernor, I very much fear that the authors of 
this sort of reasoning will take nothing by the 
argument. For, in the first place, it is false in 
point of fact. I assert, that the Alcaldes were 
in the habit of ordering; summary punishments 
equally severe, and much more painful, on occa- 
sions of prevarication of the accused or accom- 
plices, or indeed in any other cause that they 
conceived merited this sort of torture. I know 
from authority that this was actually the case. I 
state from the information of Mr. Gourville, a 
gentleman of considerable fortune and high cha- 
racter, who appeared on the trial, who had filled 
the first offices under the government, and resided 



13S 

in Trinidad for twenty-six years, and who is yet 
in this country, and may be referred to, that the 
Alcaldes were in the constant habit, and, he. af- 
firms, legal habit, of ordering differen t kinds of 
summary punishments for prevarication, That 
to come at the truth, when a good probable 
cause was made out that it was concealed, pun- 
ishments of various kinds were practised on both 
mulattos and blacks. They were sometimes 
ordered a hundred lashes to oblige them to con- 
fess ; sometimes their thumbs were bound 
tightly together with cords, and then the 
shoulders were thrown back, and their arms 
tied tightly together behind, as we see done 
with rogues, I believe, in this country, who 
are taken up on strong suspicions, to be 
brought pinioned to jail : sometimes their 
heads were put through a sort of stocks to 
the neck, and lying on their bellies, in this 
position they remained for a very considerable 
time. 

This was very general on all the coasts, parti- 
cularly of Cumana and Angustura. But it may 
be asked, "Why did not Mr. Gourville state this 
on his examination ? The reason is evident, 
and must have been observed by any person who 
was by, and saw the most dissatisfactory and 



139 

distressing' way in which the evidence of the 
witnesses was delivered : interpreters were em- 
ployed who neither understood the languages, 
nor seemed to me to possess common sense. 
But independent of this, Mr. Gourville totally 
misunderstood the nature of the word torture 
which was put to him. . Mr. Gourville never 
thought that the punishments, which the Ma- 
gistrates or Alcades were in the habit of order- 
ing according to law, were tortures in the vulgar 
and common acceptation of that word. Mr. 
Gourville was in the act of explaining the sort 
of punishment which I have described, and others 
which I have not troubled my reader with de- 
tailing, when he was stopped by the Counsel, 
I say stopped by the Counsel, and prevented 
from giving that information which he was 
called upon to give. Well might Mr. Gourville 
cry out, " Jamais ! Jamais !" of which Mr. Gar- 
row, with inverted ingenuity, made such generous 
and just use. Torture, in Mr. Gourville's com- 
prehension of the word, was certainly not the 
picket, but an application of far greater severity, 
which in the ordinary kind most frequently 
occasioned dislocation, and otier serious injuries; 
and in the extraordinary, such as breaking 
on the wheel, was generally followed by death. 
These were the modes of torture to which Mr. 
Gourville gave the emphatical " Jamais I" and 



: uo 

which Mr, Garrow tortured directly into a flat 
and full denial of the practised but painful duties 
in the station of an Aicade. 

I therefore maintain, that the recognition 
of the principle and practice of this sort of 
punishment is thus complete, and its full and 
entire establishment as a law and practice of the 
country in the greater cases, such as that of 
Louisa Calcleron's, where the process was carried 
,on before the Governor's tribunal, is marred 
only by an ordonnance, or regulation, which 
required all the inferior tribunals to transmit 
their sentences to the Royal Audience of Carac- 
cas for approbation, mitigation, or rejection. 

But in cases of importance, where large robbe- 
ries were committed, in cases of burglaries, my 
reader is long since informed, that the Trinidad 
government had not the power to punish, or to 
inflict their own sentences, or to execute their 
own decrees. These were all sent, sometimes 
with, and sometimes without the prisoner, to the 
Caraccas; and instances are not unfrequent of 
the culprit and the decree being both returned 
to Port of Spain twelve months and more after 
they had been sent away by the Governor, 
with orders for the execution of the prisoner y 
and when every circumstance respecting him 



141 

and his crime was almost entirely forgotten. 
Independent of this, I must remind my reader, 
that in such a case as Louisa Calderon's, the 
punishment was not for a crime actually com- 
mitted, but, according to the principle of the 
Spanish law, it was to extract a declaration 
(from an accessary in a robbery which had been 
circumstantially proved, and acknowledged by 
the party,) of what they had done with the 
money so plundered. If it became necessary 
to send such preliminary sentences as these 
to the Royal Audience of Caraccas, there must 
be an end to all government; vou could not 
only not inflict a sentence for ascertained delin- 
quency, or conviction of guilt, but you could not 
go the previous step which those laws allow, 
to discover the fact of commission or perpetra- 
tion, on such grounds of suspicion as their ablest 
Jurisconsults recognize just and reasonable. In 
all minor cases it has been shewn, that the 
Alcaldes were not restrained in the . exercise ; 
in cases of magnitude the law interfered and 
prevented them. And surely in a case, which 
has been pronounced and acknowledged by 
magistrates of great experience, men who had 
lived for more than twenty years in the colony, 
as superior in magnitude to any within the scope 
of their remembrance ; in k case which involved 
consequences of a very serious nature, where the 



142 

confidence between the master and servant is 
destroyed to such an extent as to swallow up the 
whole fortune of a poor and industrious hard- 
working man, who had, by the closest industry 
and the most attentive vigilance, collected. a 
sum which constituted his all ; I say, in such a 
case, it appears to me that the vigorous and 
unqualified condemnation of a Spanish law 
sentence' being executed upon a Spanish person, 
whose habits of mind and feelings, as I have 
before said, were formed and settled by those 
laws, who had for her whole, life lived under 
the severe operations of them*, and wdio had 
never known any other; I say, that in such 
circumstances, the man who arraigns either the 
conduct of the magistrate who tried the case, 
and recommended the sentence, or the determi- 
nation of the Judge who followed that magis- 
terial recommendation as the sentence of the law 
and the rule of his conduct, may possess feelings 
which, abstractedly taken, do credit to his heart ; 

* It may seem to some persons, I suppose, rather an ag- 
gravation of this imputed crime to state, that Louisa Calderon 
was of a class esteemed vile in the eye of the Spanish law ; 
and of a profession that subjected her to the utmost severity 
of treatment on all criminal occasions. 

If it should be so considered, let it be remembered, at the 
same time, that the defect (if there be o'ne,) is in the law, 
and not in the magistrate who executes it. 



but I will be bold to say, in the face of the 
People of England, with the blood of an 
Englishman flowing in my veins, and with 
the honest and unaffected practice of humaT 
nity and charity, which I trust have ever 
marked my actions and conduct in life, that 
such a man does not possess an understanding, 
which, when called into action in difficult and 
trying situations, will either add to his own 
reputation, or to the permanence and stability 
of the British Empire.- Is there any man of 
common sense, who will say that a British 
officer, as soon as the accidents of service 
place him in a situation where his total igno? 
ranee of the laws, customs, and manners of a 
newly conquered people must be pre-supposed, 
and where he is required and directed to act 
only according to the best of his judgment, that 
a miracle is to be wrought upon his under- 
standing, and that he is to be immediately 
filled with a complete knowledge of all the sta- 
tutes, old and new, all the ordinances, ancient 
and modern, by which that country ever has 
been governed ? Will any man look me in the 
face, and ,say this without laughing at me ? 
Colonel Picton, I hope, had not such vain and 
conceited notions, as to suppose, that his judge- 
ment had been defecated of all human errors, 



144 

that the limits of his comprehension were 
suddenly extended, and without an hour of 
previous study, without practice, or principle, 
he was to be instantaneously versed in the re- 
condite knowledge of a deep, and often obscure 
Spanish jurisprudence. Can any considerate or 
reflecting person persuade himself, that when 
there were men of talents and experience* to 
advise, direct, and instruct him in a new sys- 
tem of legal practice, Colonel Picton could 
have the folly, the temerity, the criminal ef- 
frontery to take upon himself, after a short resi- 
dence in the country, to direct those very per- 
sons in the practice and execution of those laws 
which they had been administering for the 
greater part of their lives ? If there be a per- 
son who entertains such contemptible opinions 
of the understanding and conduct of Colonel 
Picton, I must say, that they know him or 
think him a very different man from what I 
do. No, Colonel Picton did no such thing; 
his great object was to encourage and support 



* Perhaps there is not a British possession in all the 
West Indies, that afforded two men of greater natural 
talents, and of more experience, than the island of Trinidad, 
I mean, Mr. Black and Mr. Begorrat, with whom Colonel 
Ticton consulted on all difficult occasions. 



145 

the magistrate in the execution of his duty ; he 
knew from experience, the invaluable conse- 
quences which had derived to his government, 
from the ardent and zealous protection which 
he offered to every officer under his command, 
civil and military. Peace, order, tranquillity, 
and happiness, extension of commerce and of 
agriculture ; all these, and much more, were the 
result of a close and uninterrupted attention to 
the administration of justice in every depart- 
ment. What was it that produced those ho- 
norable and unquestioned testimonials found in 
the whole course of the interrogatories in the 
body of the return to the mandamus so often 
alluded to ? Why have those active and zealous 
magistrates come forward when their praise or 
eulogium could be of no use or interest to 
themselves, except where the foul breath of 
such a calumniator as Mr. Fullarton would 
scandalously insinuate, that they were leagued 
and colleagued with him in crimes, and com- 
bined and united in a system of tyranny, op~ 
pression, and blood. Is it natural, is it reason- 
able, is it fair, nay is it possible to suppose, 
that when the Escrivano Castro brought up the 
recommendation from the magistrate, and with 
all the concomitant forms usual and necessary 
on such occasions, explained the proceedings, 

i 



- 146 

and virtually acting in. his capacity as As- 
sessor, dictated, literally dictated, totidem verbis, 
the sentence of the law; that at such a con- 
juncture, and under such circumstances, Colo- 
nel Picton could be actuated by any sentiment, 
but an obedience to that law and that form, of 
which he had heen, during the whole course of 
his administration, labouring diligently, and 
unremittingly to extend the benefits, by precept, 
by persuasion, and by example ? That any 
thing of tyranny, malice, or ill-will, or any 
sordid passion could intermingle itself towards 
a low and unhappy culprit, whom he had never 
in his life seen, is utterly incomprehensible, ex- 
cept by persons who possess more of the mind 
of an evil spirit, than a human being. Can it 
be believed, that the author of this prosecution, 
Mr. Fullarton, had in his possession for weeks, 
the original of the very copy of the process of 
which I have given the heads in the Appendix ? 
that he must have been fully master of all the 
formalities and attentions which were paid to 
the smallest forms of that law by the Alcaldes 
who conducted it ? and yet with all this staring 
him in the face, with the most perfect convic- 
tion of the base principles on which he grounded 
this charge, and in spite of all the compunctions 
and visitations of a troubled conscience, yet 



147 

did he persevere, true to the motto which he ha? 
prefixed to his last book, which, for the amuse- 
ment of my reader, I thus translate : 

W Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito." 

Ne'er let disgrace, disaster, or dismay 
Arrest your progress, or obstruct your way; 
Be bold in wickedness, absolv'd from shame 
Let ev'ry vice degrade, and brand your name. 

And now to a most material and a most cu- 
rious part of this inquiry. Attributing, as I do, 
by far the greatest part of the obloquy which 
has been thrown on Colonel Picton for his ob- 
servance and attention to the administration 
of the laws which he was directed to administer, 
to means and practices, of which I shall pro- 
duce some specimens before I close this letter, 
and which in point of atrocity perhaps exceed 
any that ever were resorted to in the most licen- 
tious period of our history, with every due 
allowance and consideration for the effects 
which the machinations of the most malicious 
and subtle enemy could produce, still I cannot 
cease to wonder and to ask, how it is possible, 
that some persons of sober minds and impartial 
judgements could be so far (influenced I shall 
not say) but deluded by representations to 

L 2 



148 

which it must baffle even common credulity 
j-or one moment to give credit or reception. Let 
me ask one plain and simple question; why 
has all this noisy and vaporous representation of 
tyranny, of inhumanity, of cruelty, and all the 
other epithets which vulgar malice could sug- 
gest, been crammed down the throats of the 
people of this country ? Let me demand, and I 
challenge an answer from any man in the na- 
tion, lawyer or no lawyer, of whatever state or 
profession — What crime has Colonel Picton 
been really guilty of in the punishment of Louisa 
Calderon ? Has he been accused of, or indicted 
for a breach of an English or British law ? 
No. Is he accused of punishing a British 
subject contrary to a British statute? — No. 
Did the Grand Jury of Middlesex find a true 
bill against him for a wanton infraction of an 
act of parliament ? — No. Was he tried by the 
Court of King's Bench on such a charge ? — No 
such thing. Was he even tried for a breach of 
that law under which he, and all the magis- 
trates who acted with him, conceived and 
proved themselves bound by ? — By no means. 
Was he convicted of a breach of any of those 
laws or ordinances? — I say, certainly not. — I 
announce to the people of England, and my 
character as a man of honor and veracity, is 



149 

staked and pledged upon the declaration, that 
Colonel Pic ton was convicted by a British Jury, 
on the statement or averment of law which does 
not subsist, which never did subsist, except 
in the bold assertion of Mr. Fullarton's counsel. 
He said, that Colonel Picton was bound to ad- 
minister the law which he found in Trinidad at 
the time of the conquest. He maintained, that 
this was not the Old Castilian Spanish law ; it 
was the Recopilacion de las Indias : — I sat near 
him. He astonished me 1 The noble and learned 
Judge heard him ! — What shall I say, he be- 
lieved him ! The Jury of course believed him, 
and they found accordingly ! \ 

I have good reason here to implore my rea- 
der's patience, and I turn so to do with eager- 
ness, anticipating that he has pronounced me 
a vain and conceited man to presume to arraign 
the opinions or question the knowledge of a 
person so high, and so eminent in the profession 
of the law. Let me entreat him to consider 
for one moment that I am not contesting with 
that learned gentleman on what is, or is not, 
the law of the British empire. This would be 
an arrogance and a folly for which I should well 
deserve the character of an ideot or a bedlamite : 
I am simply contesting a question of general 



150 

information, which I have a right, and am en- 
titled to do; and on this ground, and this 
alone, is the learned gentleman my opponent. 
The learned counsel knows when assertion is 
better than reasoning. Here was no occasion 
for laborious research ; no folios, no dates, no 
ancient authorities, no Edwards or Henrys, no 
jus gentium to refer to. A stout, firm, shall 
I say rash and brainless assertion, assured, satis- 
fied, and convinced his hearers, and saved him 
all the trouble and labor of intellectual exer- 
tion. 

What the law is which prevails, or does not 
prevail, in the Spanish West India colonies, 
I hold myself as competent to know, and to be a 
judge of, as Mr. G., or any other lawyer in 
England ; and I shall lose all pretension to the 
reputation to which I aspire in this publication, 
if the next trial of Colonel Picton does not place 
beyond all doubt, question, or controversy, the 
law and the doctrine which I have maintained on 
the subject. Can any of my readers be surprised 
(I am sure they will not when they reflect) that I 
express myself in these strong and unqualified 
terms, when they 'are told that the day, the 
inauspicious day, I much fear, that the Court 
at Westminster Hall sat in judgment on this 



151 

important question, it virtually, I may say, 
•resolved itself into a Spanish criminal court, (this 
is the fact, sophisticate it as you will,) feeling 
itself, and of course publicly declaring itself, 
perfectly skilled in, and competent to judge, all 
matters and things relating thereto. 

I am no lawyer : I know nothing of the powers 
of the Court of King's Bench ; it may be com- 
petent to take cognizance of every thing above 
the earth and below the earth, of aerial as well as 
of corporeal substances, for aught I know, or 
pretend to know ; I barely state a fact, which no 
man can controvert, that the Court of King's 
Bench did, by the mere sitting in judgement 
upon the case of Louisa Calderon versus Thomas 
Picton ; or, if my reader prefers the legal lan- 
guage, " The King against Thomas Picton, 
" Esq.," did, I say, deem and pronounce itself 
armed with sufficient power, and endowed with 
sufficient knowledge and skill in the Spanish cri- 
minal law, to award sentence and pass judgement 
on the said Thomas Picton, Esq., in the case of 
Louisa Calderon. As the great Dr. Johnson 
said in some part of his Biographical Remarks, 
" I am now walking upon ashes, under which the 
" fiery embers have not been yet extinguished." 
However, I neither mean nor intend the smallest 



152 

disrespect : for the noble and learned Judge who 
tried the case, I feel the most reverential respect ; 
of the verdict of an English Jury 1 think as an 
Englishman should ; in every case, situation, and 
circumstance connected with English law, the 
opinion and verdict of the Court of King's Bench 
is, in my mind, most sacred : but when that 
Court, by whatever power or privilege it may be 
sanctioned, came to resolve itself, as I have 
before said and re-assert, into a Spanish criminal 
tribunal, consequently declaring itself endowed 
with sufficient knowledge of that Spanish law 
to try and decide upon the justice or injustice of 
any act committed under its cognizance, it did 
what, I will venture to maintain, no reasonable 
man could expect it was, or cotdd be, fairly, 
fully, and effectually for all the purposes of 
the investigation of truth, or the due execution 
of that law, competent to do ; what it was 
impossible, I say, it could do; and what I 
have proved that the verdict of that Court 
completely bears me out in saying that it did not 
do. 

I hope and trust that I may not be mis- 
understood in what I have said on this subject; 
that it will not be supposed I am presuming 
to arraign the proceedings and the verdict 



153 

of the Court of King's Bench. Far from it ; 
I firmly believe that that Court did all that 
could be done under the circumstances, " that 
" it made the best of the case*." It made 
endeavours and approximations to truth; but 
surely it is scarcely necessary to add, after what 
I have already said, that if there were but the 
single following circumstance to prove what I 
have been advancing, it would place the matter 
beyond doubt or contradiction ; and that cir- 
cumstance is this ; that if the Court of King's 
Bench possessed all the knowledge and skill in 
the Spanish law which it is acknowledged, and 
to the honour, boast, and glory of England uni- 
versally agreed, that it possesses of English law, 
would it suffer Mr. G. to rise up and advance 
that to be a law which does not exist ? Would it 
sutler him, or any other lawyer, without contra- 
diction, to maintain, in the face of the court, 
that in Jamaica or Antigua, or any other of 
our possessions, a system of laws, or an act 
of parliament, prevailed there which never were 



* iC With respect to the law of Spain, I may say, with 
61 great deference to the Noble Lord who presides in this 
?* Court, that of this he is supposed to have no knowledge 
16 whatever."'' 

Fide Mr. Dallas's Speech on General Pictotfs Trial, 



154 

enacted ? Certainly not. If any lawyer could 
have been mad enough to have expressed himself 
in such an ignorant way, the Court would have 
instantly silenced him. Yet have we seen a man 
rise up, and boldly assert, without contradiction, 
stop, or opposition, th at a system of law essen- 
tially differing in its principle and practice from 
the parent state, (a difference in itself seemingly 
unnatural and unreasonable,) was prevalent, still 
subsists, and takes place in the most obscure and 
insignificant corner of its colonies. After wit- 
nessing such a thing, can I hesitate from saying, 
that the trial was but an approximation to truth ? 
No, it is impossible. 

In investigating the four different parts of the 
charge against Colonel Picton which have passed 
under my examination, I trust that I have, to the 
entire conviction of my readers, unanswerably 
proved, that three parts of these four into which 
I divided it for the purpose of a more complete 
and distinct refutation, are utterly false, ground- 
less, and scandalous ; I mean, the second part, which 
charged him with punishing Louisa Calderon 
" under a supposition of a robbery ;" the thud 
part, in which an improper interference of 
Colonel Picton in her trial and punishment 
is insinuated, on account, as Mr. Fullarton 



155 



maliciously observes, " of Pedro Ruiz being 
*- an agent frequently employed by Colonel 
<e Pic ton." And the fourth part, which state* 
<c the punishment to be applied with such sever 
<{ rity that she fell down in appearance dead, 
<l and there was no physician or surgeon to 
Ki sist." — VideAppendix 5 No.I\ T . I now come to 
that part, of which, in page 1 36, I have promised 
my reader a particular elucidation, and which I 
pledged myself to make so creditable to the 
genius of Mr. Fullarton. It stands first in the 
division, and is, u For the application of torture to 
" extort confession from Louisa Calderon, a 
" girl under fourteen years of age;" that is, to a 
person of that age whom the Spanish law exempts 
from punishment of that nature. I am of opi- 
nion, that Mr. Fullarton, in his eagerness to ren- 
der this a full and perfect criminating charge, 
entire and complete in all its points and bearings, 
for a moment lost sight of the original principle 
on which he grounded the charge itself. The 
charge itself, taken wholly and altogether, was 
for torturing a Spanish girl. We shall for a 
moment go alons; ^yith Mr. Fullarton in the 
principle, and forget the circumstances ; and his 
indictment so far says, " for unlawfully, mali- 
" ciously, and without any probable cause, in- 
" rlicting the torture on Louisa Calderon, one of 



136 

<c His Majesty's subjects." Had the charge, as 
it is placed in the council books of Trinidad, 
ran thus, or had the indictment been worded in 
this way, the thing would have been unqualified ; 
but when the words, 4< of under iourteen years 
" of age," are found in both, there seems a sus- 
picion that Mr. Fullarton had, for a moment, 
as I have said, lost sight of his principle — Ali- 
quando bonus dormitat Homerus I — On the face 
of the indictment it is difficult (except for a law- 
yer) for a man of common-place understanding 
to decide whether Colonel Picton is charged 
with " unlawfully, maliciously, and without 
" probable cause, torturing Louisa Calderon, 
u one of his Majesty's subjects," or whether he 
is accused of " unlawfully, maliciously, and 
4 i without probable cause, torturing Louisa Cal- 
iC deron, a girl under fourteen years of age." 
The' difference (with submission to the lawyers) 
seems to me material, nay vital ; perhaps I should 
say, to be understood by them, fatal ; fatal for 
this reason, that if Colonel Picton is to be tried 
upon the charge of having, contrary to law, 
inflicted the torture on Louisa Calderon, "as 
" under fourteen years of age," then the question 
of guilty or not guilty would depend entirely on 
the proof of her age ; and this would be all 
that the jury should be permitted to consider 



157 

and determine ; or, to speak intelligibly to the 
lawyers, " all that should go to the jury," 
or " all for their consideration ;" and to my dull 
legal optics this certainly seems to be the most 
natural meaning of the charge and indictment — 
because we are sure that torture to extort con- 
fession ivas the law of Spain : It is uncontra- 
dicted even by Mr. Fullarton and his counsel 
that it is now the law of Spain ; and if I have 
been able to prove that those criminal laws are 
in full force in the island of Trinidad, then I say, 
that the qualification or exception of his charge 
stands, and alone stands ; because it has not 
been attempted to be denied, excused, or pal- 
liated, that if Louisa Calderon could be proved 
to have been a minor, or under fourteen years, 
at the time she was punished, the magistrates, 
and consequently by implication Colonel Pic ton, 
would have been found to have acted illegally, 
and they would have been left without defence 
or plea of ignorance ; because according to those 
laws, as cited and proved by Mr. Begorrat, this 
question of age was the very first that should by 
law be put to Louisa Calderon in the commence- 
ment of the process, and which was actually put 
to her by Mr. Begorrat, 

" Q. Did ever Louisa Calderon, in anv stao-e 



158 

" of tlie proceedings before your tribunal, allege 
" that she was a minor, and under the' age of 
" fourteen years ? 

" A. No : on the contrary, in her first extra- 
u judicial declaration, which I have already men- 
u tioned, the first question put to her before the 
" Escrivano Castro .was as to her age and pro- 
" fession ; and she answered, that she had passed 
" fourteen years ■; and as to her profession, she 
ct had been living with Pedro Ruiz, as his con- 
" cubine, for near three years; which declara- 
M tion left no doubt with me as to her age, 
tc as the law fixed the age of puberty at 
H twelve years." 

The principle of torture, or the law wriich pre- 
vailed in Trinidad on this subject, was the simple 
question which was tried and fcand* The jury 
believed Mr. G.'s most unfounded and ignorant 
assertion that there was no law, and they natu- 
rally and justly found. according as the law was 
laid dozen by* Mr. G. But did they find Colonel 
Picton guilty of breaking the law, because Louisa 
Calderon was under fourteen years of age ? No ; 
the question was not agitated. And why was it 
not put to the jury according to the words, or 
counts, (begging the lawyers' pardon,) of the 
indictment ? This is the very query that I am 



159 

now to answer, leaving all my legal doubts, 
as above described, as a bone for the lawyers to 
gnaw if they think proper. 

There can be little doubt that Mr. Fullarton 
used every honest industry to ascertain with 
exactness the .precise age of Louisa Calderon. 
The grossest part of his charge, I mean that part 
which, if it had been ascertained, would have 
aggravated Colonel Picton's imputed crime in. 
the first place, but, what was more material to 
Mr. Fullarton's purpose, it would have had a 
greater popular effect in this country : the pla- 
cards, and the posture master figures, the blacks 
and the whites, the spikes and the pulleys, and 
the whole tasteful apparatus of beautiful imagery 
that have been exhibited to the good people of 
London, and exported in waggon loads in 
octavos, duodecimos, and quartos cut down, 
in pamphlets, half pamphlets, all at reduced 
prices, to the wholesale and retail dealers in 
the country, all these have lost their fine relief 
and most glowing colour by the failure of that 
essential and integral part — the absence of the 
bloom and flower and blossom attending Made- 
moiselle Calderon when at thirteen years of age. 
Mr. Fullarton's honor and reputation were staked 
to prove it ; it was sworn before the grand jury ; 



i6o 

it was put to the petty jury; it was announced to 
all England, to the lieges of Scotland, to the 
ladles who received her on her landing at Glas- 
gow, and who commiserated the hard usage of 
the tender and interesting young Spanish Se- 
nora : all the British empire rung with the intel- 
ligence ; and the veracity of Mr. Fullarton was 
staked to make good the point. I have pre- 
faced the business a little more circumstantially 
than I otherwise should, if I had not committed 
myself to exhibit Mr. Fullarton's genius in his 
endeavours to accomplish what he found a little 
more difficult to complete than he was first 
aware of: however, though he failed, there 
remains the hand of a master it is evident, 
O artificem probum ! What was his first step ? 
The register of her baptism — for I cannot deny 
that Louisa is a Christian. Copying the real 
register, or tearing out the page in which it was 
registered, would have been a clumsy piece of 
artifice, which would neither answer the pur- 
pose of an ingenious fraud, nor accomplish the 
object in view; What was to be done? The 
Priest ! happy thought* I The Reverend Father 
Josef Maria Angeles. 



* At funis Cacimens effera, ne quid inausum 
Aut intractatum scelciisve dolive fuisset ; 

Virgin. 8. 1.205. 



m 

Let us hear the Reverend and Holy Father. 

Before the Court. 

Present, 
The Lieutenant-Governor, 



The Reverend Father Josef Maria Angeles^ 
on Oath. 

The witness was here desired to produce the 
register ; which he did. 



" Q. Does that book contain the register of 
" the baptism of Louisa Calderon, 
" A. Yes. 

" The witness was desired to turn to the entry 
' i made in the register of the baptism of Louisa 
" Calderon. He first shewed a memorandum 
" on the date of September 1788, Folio 59 in 2 ; 
* and afterwards he pointed out Folio 89- a c 
" in 2 of the said registry, wherein was written 
H as follows : — 

x 



162 



SPANISH. 



" Luisa Parvula Hija natural de Maria del 
96 Rosario Calderon Proveniente de Cariaco 
" Provincia de Cumana en Costa firma, nacio 
" a viente y cinco de Agosto del ano mil sete- 
" cientos ochenta y ocho (y oy dia once de 
" Septiembre del misnio ano en esta Rectorial 
" Iglesia la Conception de nuestra Senoria Par- 
" roquial del Puerto de Espana siendo Madrina 
" Luisa Villegas Parde libre accompanada de 
" Juan Santiago Bacuba Pardo libre instruido 
" del Parentesco Espiritual y demas Obliga- 
" ciones en acto tan solemne contrahidas) fue 
" segun las Formulas y Ceremonias del Ritual 
u Romano baptizada solemnemente por el Pres- 
" bitero D. B. Estovan Aneses y Arragon Sacris- 
<c tan de Cura Castrense Parroco Rector que 
<c soy de los nuevos Colonos de la Isla Trinidad 
" de Barlovento, y de los Antiguos Habitantes 
" del Puerto de Espana por S. M. C. 

" De que doy fe 

" B. Josef Maria Angeles." 



163 



ENGLISH. 



ti Louisa, an infant, natural daughter of Maria 
del Rosario Calderon, coming from Cariaco, in 
the province of Cumana, on the Costa Firma, 
born the 25th of August 1788, (and this 
day, the 11th of September of the same year, 
in this rectorial church the Conception of our 
Lady, the parish- church of the Port of Spain, 
Louisa Villegas, a free mulattress, being her 
godmother, accompanied by Juan Santiago 
Bacuba, a free mulatto, informed of the spi- 
ritual relationship, and other obligations, con- 
tracted by so solemn an act), she was, agree- 
able to the forms and ceremonies of the Roman 
ritual, baptized solemnly by the presbiter, Don 
Estevan Aneses, and Arragon Sacristan, mili- 
tary curate and parish rector that I am of the 
new settlers of the island of Trinidad to wind- 
ward, as also of the ancient inhabitants of the 
Port of Spain by his Catholic Majesty. 
" To which I give faith, 

" Josef Maria Angeles." 

" Aneses." 

M 2: 



164 

a Q. Is the manuscript in Folio 59 in your 
" hand-writing? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. Is the entry in Folio 89 in 2 in your 
" hand- writing; was it made at the time of the 
*' baptism of Louisa Calderon, or afterwards ? 

" A. It is in my hand-writing, and entered two 
il or three months afterwards?' 

Mr. Attorney General moved the Court that 
the Reverend Father Pedro Reyes Bravo, the 
Vicar- General of the Colony, be directed to 
inspect the book of registry of baptisms pro- 
duced by the witness Josef Maria Angeles ; 
and that he appear before the Court, and deliver 
on oath at the next meeting the observations 
he has then made upon such book, and the 
entries therein. This motion objected to by Mr. 
Hayes, but over-ruled by his Excellency the 
Governor. 



The Rev. Father Josef Maria Angeles 
continued. 

" Q. How much time elapsed between the 
8 baptism of Louisa Calderon and the making 
of the entry ? 



165 



" A. I believe one year or more. 

" Q. Do you mean to szvear that the entry 
" was fairly made, and that in the making of it 
"you acted consistently with your duty as a 
" priest, and your feelings as a conscientious 
" man ? 

« A. Yes. 

" Q. Have you any doubt of the child having 
" been baptized, and at the time mentioned in 
" the memoranda ? 

" A. None. 

" Q. From what source of information was 
e< the exa£l day of the birth of Louisa Calde- 
11 ron ascertained as entered in the registry ? 

" A. The godfathers and godmothers came 
w to me at my house, and desired me to bap- 
" tize a child of such an age : the registry does 
" not ascertain the age, or the colour, but only 
iC the baptism. 

" Q. Is the entry of Louisa Calderon's birth 
M in the register book of baptisms conclusive 
" as to the day of her birth ? 

' ' A. I never saw the child. I cannot swear 
<< to her birth. The entry is not conclusive of 
" her age. I only had it from her godmother^ 
" godfather, parents, and relations. 



166 

w Q. Was the information of her age given to 
" you in writing ? 
" A. No, verbally. 

« Q. HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY TRANSCRIPT 
H OR CERTIFICATE OF THE BAPTISM OF 
« LOUISA CALDERON TO HERSELF OR 
« ANY OTHER PERSON; IF SO, WHEN? 

" A. I GAVE TWO TO DON JUAN MON- 
« TES AND HER MOTHER, WIJEN HE 
" WENT TO LONDON FROM THIS ISLAND. 

* Q. WERE SUCH CERTIFICATES PRE- 
4 CJSELY CONFORMABLE TO THE ENTRY? 

?> A. WORD FOR WORD. 

" Q. Then all you know about the baptism 
" of Louisa Calderonis, making an entry of it 
" in the register book from the paper given to 
* ' you by the Sacristan ? 

" A. No other." 

There were many other questions put to this 
father, which I think unnecessary to copy : Mr. 
Fullarton may publish them if he pleases. 

The Reverend Father, DonPedro Reyes Bravo, 
attended in pursuance of the order aforesaid, 
and was duly sworn, according to his religion 
and situation. 



167 

" Q. Are you the Vicar-General of this 
"island ? 

" A. I am the Vicar of the whole island." 

" Q. Are you an ecclesiastical Judge in this 
" colony? 

" A. Yes. 

" Is Don Padre Maria Angeles under your 
" jurisdiction ? 

" A. Yes. 

** /Q. Have you, according to the order of 
1 ' the Court, examined the registry of the bap- 
" tisms of Louisa Calderon in page 89, and the" 
1 ' note relating to it in page 59, and what ob- 
*■ servations have you made upon it? 

" I have made my observations and put them 
* f on paper, and I beg leave to produce it to the 
" Court, 

c * By the Court. You can only recur to your 
" notes to refresh your memory ; but you must 
il relate the observations which have occurred to 
4 c you viva voce, 

" A. The first observation is ; that the entry 
" (lapartida) of Louisa Calderon's baptism cei> 
te titles her to have been baptized the Hth of 
" September, 1788, in fo. 89, after the end of 
" the book, entitled and signed ' the first book,' 
«' at the end of the year 1789. The second is^ 



" between the first and second books of the same 
" volume are found four pages, which appear to 
" have been left blank, either on purpose, or to 
" supply the omissions of the curate : twenty- 
" eight entries, entitled partidas extraviadas, are 
" placed without order or proportion, and at the 
u end of them is another note, signed to excite 
" attention to the said entries, a little below 
" which is written the word finis. After this 
u there remain two pages, and part of another, 
" between the finis of one book and the begin- 
" ning of the other, in which place are three 
11 more partidas, of which the last is that of 
" Louisa Calderon, leaving after it a blank of 
i( a page and a half, contrary to the usual cus- 
" torn. The third observation is, that the three 
" partidas, of which the last is that of Louisa 
" Calderon, though older by its date, were with- 
" out doubt entered the last, as appears by the 
-" ink. The fourth observation is ; that at rh$ 
i{ end of the said partidas, after the signature 
" of the Curate, Don Josef Maria Angeles, 
il following the same line is written ' Dado el 
il ' certified do a ella,' and a line drawn through 
" it, which does not appear to^be^ of more re- 
" cent writing than that of, the entry. Fifth- 
iC ly, the ink with which was written the memo- 

i 



" random in fo, 59? inserted in the last line of 

" that page, namely, ' Luisa, Vease al folio 89/ 

" is quite fresh. Sixthly, among las partidas 

M extraviadas, which are as many as thirty one, 

" including that of Louisa Calderon, there are 

" three of baptisms performed by the sacristan 

" Aneses. Seventhly, the memorandum of the 

<f baptism of Louisa Calderon, although it might 

" have happened to have~been mislaid, ought to 

" have been, as soon as it was given in, as well 

tf as the rest, entered by the Padre Josef Maria 

" Angeles in the present book, and by no means 

" in the place where it is : and it cannot there- 

" fore be considered as a register, because it was 

" made in pages left blank. Therefore I consi- 

" dev the said entry of baptism of Louisa Calde- 

" ron as of no authority whatever, and very 

" suspicious. I also demand permission to in^ 

" spect all the other registers up to this day, and 

" particularly the old register book, for the puf- 

" pose of making further observations. 

The witness was then cross examined by 
Mr. Hayes, on the part of the prosecution. 

** Q. From whom did you receive the regis- 

fi try ? 



170 

« A. From the Clerk of the Court ? 

" Q. Has it been in your own custody from 
s i the time you received until you brought it 
<c into Court. 

" A. Yes 3 

" Q. Have you had any communication on 
tc the subject of the said registry with any one ? 
" Are the observations you have made on it per- 
" fectly your own ; or have you received assist- 
" ance from any person whatever \ 

" A. I have consulted with myself, having 
Ci the faculty of judging perfectly of the book. 
iC The observations I have just given to the 
u Court are those which I made with the assise 
" tance of the Clerk of the Court. 

" Q. Are you Curate of Arima ? 

fi A. I am Proprietario of Arima* 

u Q. Do you keep the registry of that cure ? 

%i A. Yes ; and also of Saint Josef. 

" Q. Has it ever happened with you, that an 
." entry of baptism has been omitted, some 
a time after the ceremony of baptism was per- 
" formed ? 

" A. Yes : but in the same book, in the same 
" year, I make the entry, specifying that it be- 
" longs to such a year. 

" Q. Supposing that you did not find it out 



171 

H till the year was ended, would you insert the 
*' registry at the end of the year, or in what other 
* part of the book ? 

" A. Supposing in the month of April, in 
** the following year, I was to find a memoran- 
" dum, I would enter it on the very day I found 
- c it, and mention that it belonged to such a 
} f year. 

" Q. Is such the general method or rule obser- 
(i ved in the registering of baptisms in the Ca- 
" tholic church P 
« A Yes. 

" You say that the entry of the baptism of 
" Louisa Calderon appears suspicious to you; 
* c explain why you think it suspicious ? 
" A. Because I can give no credit to it 
(l Q. How does it appear suspicious ? . 
16 A. Because it is not entered where it ouo-ht 
" to have been entered and on account of the 
" other reasons already given by me. 

" Q. Do you suspect that the entry of the 
" baptism of Louisa Calderon has been made for 
" any improper purpose? 

" A. I have already explained my way of 
f* thinking. 

" Q. How long have you known Josef 
( \ Maria Angeles ? 



172 

f* A. I believe from the year 1784, when I 
11 first arrived. 

" Q, From the observation you have made 
i( on the general character of Josef Maria Ange- 
*' les, do you believe him capable of having 
" made the entry with any other view than that 
" of repairing an omission of an entry which 
tx ought to have been made previously ? 

u A I never believed him to be a man of good 
%i faith, from thefirfi day I saw him, ^ 

" Q. Have you had any personal difference 
" with him ? 

" A. Never. 

" Q. Upon what particular acts do you found 
" your opinion, that he is not a man of good 
" faith ? 

" A. Because he has not been obedient to 
a his superiors and has not fulfilled the duties 
Ci of his ministry. 

" Q. When you speak of superiors, do you 
m . confine it to the orders of yourself, or of 
* whom else ? 

" A. I mean all his ecclesiastical superiors 
* ( who have been in this island during his resi-? 
il dence here. 

" (J. What degree have you taken in divi- 
u nity ? - 



J 



173 

" A. None. 

" Q. Is a licentiate in divinity considered as 

* having taken a degree ? 

"A. I do not know of Maria Angeles having 
" any such title in divinity. 

il Q. With the exception of your appointment 
" of Vicar-General of this island, are you the su- 

* perior of Josef Maria Angeles ? 

•\ A. No. 

" Pedro Josef Reyez Bravo, 

" James Meany, Interpreter." 



Maria Colder on (Mother of Louisa) on Oath 
before the Court. 

« Q. WAS THE DAY OF YOUR DAUGH- 
« f TER'S BIRTH REGISTERED IN ANY PA- 

* RISH ? 

« A. IT CAN'T BUT BE REGISTERED IN 
" THE CHURCH. 

« Q. DID YOU EVER SEE THE REGISTER 
« OF YOIJR DAUGHTER'S BIRTH ? 

* A. DON PEDRO VARGAS SHEWED ME 

* A COPY OF THE REGISTER WHICH HAD 
« BEEN GIVEN TO HIM BY THE CURATE* 

* She had before replied to the Attorney General's ques- 
tion on oath, u Can you read or write ? A. No. M 



274 

* Q. WHO IS DON PEDRO VARGAS ? 

« A. HE WAS THE LINGUIST OF THE 
« GOVERNOR WHO CARRIED AWAY MY 
" DAUGHTER." 

Don Pedro Reyes Bravo, the Vicar General, 
on oath, produced the following exhibit, and 
on his being duly sworn to the truth thereof, the 
same was filed and read, 



SPANISH. 

" V. Excelencia en la carte haviendome or- 
denadoy como Juez Eclesiastico, y como su- 
perior del Padre Cura Don Jose Maria An- 
geles, verificar con puntualidad los Registros 
" y Quadernos producidos por este, he desem- 
u penado con la mayor exactitud la comicion 
" que se me ha conferido, baxo del Juramento 
" que he prestado concluyo me parecer con de- 
" cir a Vuestra Excelencia, que despues de 
" todas las circunstancias, con que se hayan 
" afligidos los Registros y Quadernos sometidos 
" a mi inspeccion, y sobre todo el encuentro 
" de la Particla del ano de 86, en el Registro de 
" los Antiguos Colonos, devo declarar, como 
" declaro, que el certificado de Bautismo deLuisa 






175 

11 Calderon cntraclo en el folio 89 del Registro 
a por el Padre Cura Don Jose Maria Angeles es 
" Falso y de ningun Valor ; y que la hayada 
" en el Registro de los Antiguos Colonos deve 
" tenerse por la Verdadera. Y lo firmo en esta 
" Ciudad de San Jose de Oruna a los veinte y 
" uno de Mayo de mil ochocientos y cinco anos. 
" Pedro Jose Reyes Bravo." 



ENGLISH. 

" Your Excellency and the Court having 
u ordered me, as Ecclesiastical Judge and Su- 
" perior of the Curate Father Joseph Maria An- 
" geles, to examine and verify with punctuality 
" the Register and papers produced by the said 
6i Curate, and having performed the commission 
" confided to me with the utmost exactness, I 
' ' have to report to your Excellency, upon the 
?,- oath I have taken, that, after a due consi- 
KC deration of all the circumstances respecting the 
i( said register, and particularly the entry made 
fi in the year 1786, in the registry of the anci- 
" ent inhabitants, I ought to declare, as I do 
" hereby declare, that the baptism of Louisa 
ci Calderon, entered in Folio 89 of the register 



176 

* by the Father Joseph Maria Angeles, Curate 
" of the Port of Spain, is false, and of no value, 
" and that that found in the register of the an- 
" cieut inhabitants is, and ought to be, regarded 
" as the true one, which I sign in this city of St 
"-Joseph ofOruna, the 21st of May 1805," 



Copy of the Register of the ancient Inhabitants- 
delivered by the Vicar-General. 

SPANISH. 

" Luisa Antonla Parvula,en seis dies de Sep*de 
" mil setecientos ochenta y seis alios : YoFr. Iph. 
" Ant° Alvarado Cura Coadjutor de la Parroq 6 
" del Puert° de Espana Certifico, que en esta 
" Parroq 6 bautize" solemnemente puse oleo y 
u Chrisma a Luisa Antonia de doce dias nacida, 
" hija de Maria Nunes Parda libre, fueron sus 
" Padrinas Juan Santiago y Luisa Antonia a 
*f quienes adverty su obligacion y espirit' paren- 
" tesco y para que conste lo firmo y de ello doy 
" fe. 

" Fr. Jph. Ant* Alvarado/' 



177 



ENGLISH. 



x< Louisa Antonio, an infant, on the sixth 
u Day of September, 1786. — I Joseph An- 
" tonio Alvarado, Curate Coadjutor of the pa- 
" rish of Port of Spain, certify that in the parish 
" church I solemnly baptized with holy oil and 
" Chrism Louisa Antonio, twelve days old, 
" daughter of Maria- Nunes, a free mulattress: 
" the sponsors were, Juan Santiago and Louisa 
" Antonio, whom I advertised of their spiritual 
" obligations, in confirmation of which I give 
" faith. 

" Fran. Josef Alvarado." 

The proof of Louisa Calderon's age may be 
supposed to be now established ; but I shall give 
my reader further satisfaction in this curious and 
interesting point. I shall begin with the testi- 
mony of a person whom the generality of my 
male and female readers will consider authentic, 
the gentleman himself who had the felicity of 
seducing the virtue, and of monopolizing the 
charms, of this interesting young lady. 



178 



Pedro Ruiz, on Oath. 

iC Q. When Louisa Calcleron first came to 
iC live with you, was she a woman grown ? 

1 c A. Surely when a woman goes to live with a 
u man, she must be full grown" 

Don Bermudas, Louisa* s Defensor, on Oath. 

" Q. Did not Louisa Calderon's mother in- 
" form you of the age of Louisa ; and what was 
" that age ? 

" A. Yes ; her mother informed me she was f| 
" fourteen years and some months old/* 

Mr. Abraham Pinto, on Oath. 

" Q. How long have you been in the colony ? 

" A. Twenty-two years. 

" Q. Do you know Louisa Calderon ? 

" A. I know the girl called Louisa, but I don't 
" know how she got the name of Calderon. 

" Q. Do you mean by the girl calico 1 Louisa 
" the girl that w r as imprisoned on account of 
*' the robbery of Pedro Ruiz? 

" I do. 

" Q. Do you know her age ? 



179 

" A. I supposed that she was of the age of my 
" son x which is nineteen years old on the l&th of 
" this month*. 

" Q. From what do you form that opinion 
" of her age, when did you first see her ? 

" In my own dwelling house she was at school 
" to a Mrs. Haslet on, who is now Mrs. Salazar. I 
" saw her every day when she was in her mother's 
" arms in the year 1786, about the months Sep- 
" tember, October, or November, when she 
" was a sucking child, she frequented our house. 

' ' Q. Was your son baptized, and when ? 

"A. In the year 1786. 

" Q. By whom? 

(C A, By the Padre Alvorado. 

" Q. Have you got the certificate of the regis- 
" try of the baptism of your son ? if yes, pro- 
* 4 duce it. (the witness then produced it, which 
u was filed and read.) 

" Q. Did you procure it, and from whom? 

" A. I did from the priest Don Josef Maria 
" Angeles. 

" Q. Is your recollection perfectly clear as 
" to your having seen Louisa in the year 1786 ? 

" A. Yes, the latter end of the year. 



* August 12, 1S05. 

- N 2 



180 

P Q. Has not Maria Calderon, the mother 
'" of Louisa, other daughters. 

" A. I do not know any other but Louisa. 

" Are you positive that the Louisa you speak 
" of is the person who was imprisoned for the 
" robbery of Pedro Ruiz ? 

"A.Iamr 

Mr. Pinto is a merchant of considerable wealth 
and credit in Port of Spain. 

Senor Guitano Guevano^ on Oath. 

es Q. Where were you born, and what is 
" your business? 

" A. I was born at Caraccas, and am a 
" planter. \ 

" Q. At what period did you: settle in this 
' 1 Colony ? 

" A. Tin latter end of the year 1786. 

" Q. Did you know Louisa Calderon the 
a daughter of Maria Calderon ? 

u A. I knew Louisa, but I do not know that 
" she was called C#Jderon : she was a little lit- 
" tie thing when I arrived. 

i ' Q. Was the Louisa, the daughter of Ma- 
" ria Cariaco, the person who was imprisoned 
" on account of the robbery of Pedro Ruiz ? 



1-81 , ' 

" A. I knezv Louisa, she that was in prison 
u for the robbery, who is now in London, and 
" knew her mother also : it was the same person. 

cc Q. When you arrived in this island from 
" Caraccas in 1786, what was the age of 
' ' Louisa of whom you speak ? 

" A. I cant say her age: she was a little 
" little thing when I went to her house, it was 
<c to buy tobacco* 

" Q. Do you not know that Louisa's mother 
" had other daughters besides Louisa ? 

* ' A. I knew two others much older than her. 

" Q. Will you positively swear that the same 
ci little child you sazv in the year 1786, is the 
" same person who was imprisoned for the rob- 
u bery of Pedro Ruiz ? 

" A. Yes, I knew her, I sxvear and swear 
" again, that it is the same." 

De Castro^ the Escrivano^ on Oath. 

" Q. You say in your answer to the 39th. 
" question in your, examination on the part of 
" the prosecution, that you did not know the 
" age of Louisa Calcleron at the time of her 
" being put on the picket ; recollect yourself 
" and say, if you can, what was her age ? 

" A, I remember having declared that she 



182 

" was fifteen, either a little more or less, if I re» 
H member right" The last question was re- 
peated to the witness by desire of Mr. Hayes. 

" 2d A. / cannot say with certainty, but I 
" think I answered to the question of Mr, Hayes 
" that Louisa Calderon was fifteen, at the time 
" of her being put on the picket" 

The Vicar General immediately followed up 
his report with z petition to the Lieutenant 
Governor respecting the great scandal which 
the Curate's conduct had brought upon the ec- 
clesiastical character, and requiring that he 
should be suspended from his sacerdotal func- 
tions. He was in consequence removed from 
the curacy, and a prosecution instituted against 
him for forgery and perjury, which was carried 
to conviction, the definitive sentence being re- 
ferred to the Vicar General, he being the com- 
petent Judge where an ecclesiastic was con- 
cerned. I am in justice also to state, that 
His Majesty's Secretary for the Colonial De- 
partmeut, on a representation being laid be- 
fore him. of the conduct of the Curate, and 
the evil consequences with which it was preg- 
nant, did immediately send out an order to 
the Governor and Council of Trinidad, desir- 
ing an immediate investigation of the affair 



\S5 

I am informed Mr. Fullarton at present inhabits. 
Let my Lords Buckinghamshire and Sidmouth, 
Mr. Adderley, and his other quondam respectable 
friends, be pleased to read this part over atten- 
tively, they will perceive and acknowledge that 
my case is made out, my proofs clear, unequivo- 
cal, and substantial. 

I have now, therefore, finished my search; 
and I trust entirely to my reader's conviction 
and satisfaction. I have traced and detected 
the thief; I have hunted the plunder, and fol- 
lowed it to the receiver of the stolen goods. 
I have named the principal and the accomplices, 
and I have given my proofs *. I shall not de- 
tain him longer ; let the British Public now sit 
in judgment on them all, and pronounce which 
is the most infamous ; the man behind the cur- 
iam, the unhappy Priest, the Alguazil Mayor, 
Don Montes, or the lawyer, Mr. Pedro Vargas 
Smith, (Mr. Fullarton's Linguist). A word only 
to my jury at parting with such respectable com* 

pany. 
t' 

Men of England, Such are the acts, and such 

are the characters, of the persons who have come 

.-~ 1 i , - 

* Vide pages 166 and 173. 



186 

forward to vindicate the rights, and assert the 
liberties and lazes of Spain. You will judge 
them not from what I say : for mark, my coun- 
trymen, I have said nothing from my own autho- 
rity ; I have adduced my evidence from the de- 
positions on oath of the most respectable, the 
most wealthy, and best informed men in the 
island of Trinidad. If you believe them, you 
will find a verdict for Colonel Picton ; if not, 
I will maintain to your faces, that you will 
charge the English nation with an act of in- 
justice of which one instance, thank God ! does 
not rest on its calendar ; that is, you will coolly, 
deliberately, and on full consideration, prefer the 
evidence of attainted men, of persons who, from 
the testimony of every respectable man who has 
appeared in the Court at Port of Spain, friend or 
foe, (for remember, countrymen, that the prose- 
cution was at liberty to choose and bring forward 
whom they thought proper,) that in any tribunal 
in the country, in their own native place, they 
would not be believed upon their oaths ; 1 say, 
you will prefer the evidence of such men as these, 
to the universally acknowledged honor,, probity, 
and integrity of the whole island. 

This it requires not the gift of prophecy to 
foretell that you will not do ; and therefore 



187 

I finish this part of my case as I began my 
letter, " firmly and confidently relying on the 
" sentence which you will pronounce upon it." 

Let me turn from this disgusting and horrid 
picture of infamy and degradation, and relieve 
my reader by a representation which must cheer 
and encourage every good man to persist in the 
path of virtue and honor; which supports him 
against all the machinations of his enemies, 
sustains him through all conflicts and difficulties, 
and which sooner or later, but with ultimate suc- 
cess, conducts him to that place in his country's 
estimation which engages the hopes, crowns the 
expectations of the enterprising and adventurous, 
and fills with rational delight and satisfaction 
even the wisest and most diffident man in the 
land. 



CHARACTER OF COLONEL PICTON 
AND HIS GOVERNMENT, 

Don Hilariot Begorrat, on Oath^ before the 
Court. 

" Q. What was the general character of Bri- 
" gadier-General Picton, as his Majesty's repre- 
" sentative in this colony. 



iss 

" A. Of great integrity and disinterestedness, 
" a man of knowledge and firmness, who saved 
" the colony by his talents." 

Colonel Denis Mien Gaudip, de Soter, on 
Oath. 

" Q. Do you know the defendant General 
" Pic tori*, and for how many years ? 

" A, Yes, from the end of 1794. 

<c Q. How long did you reside here under the 
" government of General Picton ? 

% ( A. At different times fifteen months, 

iC Q. What is his general character ? 

iC A, A character full of dignity, justice, acti- 

" vity, and generosity ; beloved by the inhabit- 

" ants, feared by all the disturbers of tranquillity, 

■"' and generally considered as the founder of the 

" colony. 

" Q. Did you ever know him guilty of any 
" act of cruelty, 

" No, none." 

Don Francisco de Far/an^ on Oath. 

" Q. Where were you born, and what is your 
** profession ? 

(t A. I was born in this island, and my profes- 
i( sion is a planter. 



189 

." Q. Did you know General Picton, and 
u what was his character ? 

" A. Yes, particularly; he was a man just, 
f x disinterested, and capable, by his talents, to 
(i govern all men. 

" Q. Did General Picton, to your knowledge, 
ff commit any act of cruelty during any part of 
" his government? 

" ' ' A. No ; if in any cause he ordered punish - 
* c ment, it was necessary for the tranquillity of 
" the colony. 

" Q. As an old inhabitant of this colony, and 
" a Spaniard, what was the opinion of your 
ci countrymen of General Picton ? 

" A. Amongst the honest part of my country- 
" men, he was considered as a man of consider- 
"able talents, doing honor to' his own coun- 
" try. 

" Q. Did or did not the colony, after General 
" Picton assumed the reins of government, assume 
" a new aspect ? 

- " A. It is well known that the colony im- 
" proved a great deal." 

Baron de Montalembert, on Oath. 

6t Q. Did you know Brigadier- General Pic- 
il ton, and what was his general character as a 
" chief of this government ? 



190 



a 



A. I knew him intimately, and his charac- 
" ter was the most honourable, and most re- 
" spected, that a chief could desire to possess 
" in his government. I wish to declare, that I 
" came to the island to settle, inconsequence of 
" the honourable report of character and reputa- 
l* tion that was made to me of Governor Picton 
• c by his Majesty's Ministers, his Grace the 
" Duke of Portland, and the Right Honorable 
" H. Dundas." 

Alexander Williams^ Esq. on Oath. 

*'* Q. Are you a proprietor in this island ? 

* A. Yes. 

" Q. How long have you lived in it ? 

c ' A. Upwards of seventeen years. 

" Q, Did you know General Picton, and 
4 ' what was his general character as Governor 
" of this island? 

" A. I did know him ; his general character 
'* was that of an upright and just Governor, and 
" generally esteemed in the colony, particularly 
" by the foreigners." 

John Lynch) Esq. on Oath. 

" Q. Are you a proprietor in this island ? 
" A. Yes. 



" Q. How long have you resided in the colony ? 

" A. Since the year 1787. 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier-General Picton, 
" and what was his general character as Gover- 
€i nor of this island ? 

" A. I knew him from his first arrival, and his 
" general character was that of a very honest np- 
" right man, esteemed by all good men of every 
" country." 

Chevalier de la Sauvager, formerly Governor 
of Tobago, on Oath. 

" Q. Are you a proprietor of this island ? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in it ? 

" A. Ten years. 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier- General Picton, 
" and what was his general character as Gover- 
" nor of the island ? 

" A. I knew him; his character was that of a 
" man calculated to govern a colony, and know- 
" ing how to keep every man in his proper situa- 
€( tion, and rendering justice to all." 

Benois Deri, Esq. on Oath. 

c< Q. Are you a proprietor in this island ? 
" A. Yes/ 



192 1 

" Q. How long have you resided in it? 

" A. More than twenty years* 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier-General Pic* 
6( ton, and what was his general character ? . . 

" A. I knew Brigadier-General Picton, and 
" his character was that of a man who made 
" himself feared and beloved by all." 

Chevalier de Gannes^ on Oath* 

u Q. Are you a proprietor of this island? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in it ? 

" A. Since 1793. 
>. " Q. Did you know Brigadier-General Picton, 
" and what was his general character as Gover- 
i ' nor of this island ? 

" A. I knew him intimately : when I arrived 
" in this colony, there were a number of very bad 
" subjects in it, and it was threatened with a 
" general subversion of good order; Brigadier- 
" General Picton restored order, maintained the 
" police, protected commerce and the iniporta- 
" tion of provisions, tripled the value of land in 
" cultivation, and I always knew him to be ex- 
" tremely just towards all the inhabitants of the 
" colony, without any prejudice to any of the 
t* various foreigners in it." 



193 



Vincent Patrice, Esq. Commandant of the 
Quarter of La V entitle, on Oath. 

" Q. Are you a proprietor in this island? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in it ? 

" A. Eighteen years ; during fourteen of 
" which I have been employed in the service 
" of Government. 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier- General Pic- 
" ton, and what was his general character as 
* Governor of this colony ?• 

" I knew General Picton : I considered that 
w at the capture of the island he restored tran- 
tc quillity, and caused commerce and agriculture 
" to flourish; and, as far as I was acquainted 
" with him, he always was a just man." 

Etienne Maingot, Esq* formerly Commissary 
of Population, on Oath. 

" Q. Are you a proprietor of this island ? 

" A. Yes, 

" Q. How long have you resided in it ? 

M A. Since 1793. 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier- General Pic- 
" ton, and what was his general character as 
" Governor of the island? 

o 



194 

" A. I knew him intimately; as a proprietor, 
" I always found protection and justice from 
" him ; and his general character was that of 
" one who administered justice to all." 

Count de Castelet^ on Oath. 

" Q. Are you a proprietor in the colony ? 

"i A. Yes. 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier-General Pic- 
" ton, and what was his general character and 
" conduct as Governor of this island? 

" A. I have known him very well since 
" 1800 : he merited the warmest praises of the 
il inhabitants of the colony; and I entertain 
" for his character the highest esteem." 

Count de Loppinott^ on Oath. 

u Q. Are you a proprietor in this island ? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in it ? 

" A. Ten years and upwards. 

u Q. Did you know Brigadier-General Pic- 
i( ton, and what was his general character as 
u Governor of this island ? 

( A. I knew Brigadier-General Picton as 
" Governor in Chief of this island ; I saw him 



195 

" govern with all dignity, loyalty, and perfect 
" justice, with a firmness which secured the 
" tranquillity of the colony, to the satisfaction 
" of every honest man, and which repressed all 
" the evil minded persons in it" 



Lazar Achard, Esq. on Oath. 

* l Q. Are you a proprietor in this island ? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in it ? 

" A. Eighteen years. 

" Q. Did you know Brigadier- General Pic- 
" ton, and what was his general character as 
" Governor of this island? 

" A. I knew Brigadier-General Picton as a 
" just man, and of integrity, and I shall always 
u owe him an eternal gratitude for having pre- 
" served my life and fortune by his courage, 
" activity, and abilities, in times when we were 
" threatened with fire, and the malevolence of 
" the negroes and other vagabonds, who only 
" waited for a favourable moment to cut our 
" throats." 



o 2 



196 



The Honourable John JYihell^ Esq. Member 
of His Majesty* s Council of this Island^ 
and Judge of the Court of Consulado^ on 
Oath. 

" Q. How long have you resided in this 

6i island? 

" A. Between nineteen and twenty years ? 
" Q. Were not the French very numerous, 

" and the revolutionary principles of France 

" very strong among all colors and classes in the 

" colony ? 

" A. Most certainly. 

" Q. Did not Brigadier-General Picton pre- 

" serve order and tranquillity in the colony 

" after the capture, and to whom do you ascribe 

" it? 

" A. To the firmness of his government, and 

u his apparent determination to suffer no such 

" principles to remain in the colony; in conse- 
quence of which, in a very short time, the 
principal leaders of the faction before de- 
scribed disappeared, and the others of the 

1 ' party remained quiet and peaceable. 
" Q. To what do you ascribe the present flou- 

" rishing situation of this colony ? 



157 

€< A. I certainly ascribe it to the firmness and 
" uniform good conduct of General Picton, in 
" giving ample protection to all good and peace- 
£ able subjects, and driving out all of a contrary 
" character." 



Micholas St. Pe, late Alcalde of the Second 
Election^ on Oath. 

" Q. How long have you been resident in 
€C this colony ? 

" A. Twenty-eight years, and upwards. 

" Q. Did you know General Picton, and 
" what was his general character ? 

" A. I knew him since 1798, and he was a 
' 6 man of good morals and practice ; frank, 
" impartial, disinterested, zealous for His Ma- 
" jesty's service, and for the preserving the 
" colony. There are very few inhabitants, of 
" those who Were here before the capture of the 
" colony, who do not believe they owe to his vi- 
" gilance their whole families. 

" Q. Was he of a wicked and cruel disposi- 
" tion? 

" A. I never saw any instance of it" 



-I9S 

The Honourable Philip Langton, Esq. Alcalde 
of the First Election, on Oath. 

u Q. How long have you been resident in the 
." colony ? 

" A. About eighteen years, I 

" Q. Did you know General Picton, and what 
& was his general character ? 

f A. I had the honour of being intimately 
■" acquainted with General Picton ; and all the 
ft respectable characters that I ever heard talk of 
" him in the colony, join me in opinion in cousin 
" dering him an active, intelligent, and disinte- 
" rested magistrate, warmly attached to the inte- 
" rest of his sovereign, and of this colony. 

*A Q. Did you ever know him guilty of any 
" act of cruelty ? 

Ci A. Never," 

Abraham Pinto, Esq. on Oath. 

' c Q. How long have you^ been in the colony ? 

" A. Twenty- two years. 

" Q. Did you know General Picton, and 
" what was his general character ? 

" A. His public and private character was 
•' always very good, as far as I was acquainted 
" with him." 



199 

What will Mr. Fullarton say to these declara- 
tions ? Will he call them " white- washing ?" or, 
will he denominate them " the justifying and 
" complimentary declarations of different per- 
&i sons, in the character of compurgators, bear- 
" ing testimony to Colonel Picton's qualifica- 
" tions and merits, although they were not in 
" Trinidad daring the period when the acts 
" charged against him were committed ?" and 
although it may be J' of slight avail to produce 
" the applause of Generals or Commodor.es,. who 
" may disgrace their own characters by such 
u violations of their public duty," (Vide pages 
20, £1, of Colonel Fu liar ton's reply to Colonel 
Picton's pamphlet) ; yet I cannot refuse myself 
the gratification, nor withhold from my reader 
the opinion of " a General" of whose abilities, 
information, honor, and integrity, the British 
public entertains as little doubt, as every mili- 
tary and naval officer, who has been in the 
West Indies, does of the opportunities of in- 
formation upon which Brigadier- General Mait- 
land grounded the opinion he has given. He 
was Secretary to Sir Ralph Abercromby at the 
time of the conquest in March 1797, visited 
that island again with the Commander in Chief 
in June following. He was afterwards or- 
dered to take the military command of the 



200 

colony in June 1803*, when Colonel, Picton 
had given in his resignation of second Commis- 
sioner, and after he had governed the country 
for six years, from the time that B. General 
Maitland had left the island with Sir Ralph in 
1797 to 1803. It is reasonable £6 suppose that 
General Maitland j\ having such opportunities for 
informing himself on the spot, of the conduct 
and proceeding of Colonel Picton during this 
long term, did actually either make a diiigent 
enquiry, or did perhaps (without putting himself 
to the trouble) receive a very accurate account 
of his Government from all those who were most 
capable of giving him information, and who 
could not be intimidated, as Mr. Fullarton has 
insinuated, either by fear of Colonel Picton, 
(who had now left the island,) nor influenced by 
interest. Let us therefore hear how he speaks 
ofhiniand his conduct. 

In General Maitland's reply to the Magistrates 
and Council of the island of Trinidad, when they 
waited upon him with an address upon his being 
relieved in the command by Lieutenant Governor 
Hislop, he says, 

* In ea Provincia lcgatus fuit, qua virtute! qu$ cotistan* 
t$ yir ! omni laude et honor© dignissimus. 

Cic. pro Cnu Planciq, 



201 

u Gentlemen, 
*' I am most grateful for this public testimony 
4< of your approbation of my conduct, for which 

* I return you my warmest thanks : it rises in 
f * my esteem for this reason, that as I replaced 
(C a most distinguished and meritorious officer it 

* was more difficult to gain applause. I will not 
<K throw away this opportunity of expressing, in 
il unison with you, that I greatly honor and 
c< esteem Brigadier General Picton. In a period 
" of public danger, when the colony was beset 
*' with traitors, and shaken by the unruly beha- 
■' viour of a disorderly soldiery, (for such was 
6( the major part of the garrison in May 1797) 
*>' his undisturbed mind awed the factious, sub- 
" clued the danger, and saved the colony. 

(Signed) & Fr, Ma it land." 
July, 20. 18()3, 

I have now adduced the declarations on oath 
of some of the most respectable persons in the 
island of Trinidad, {almost all of whom were 
there daring the whole of Colonel Picton* s com- 
mand,) as to the merits of him and his govern- 
ment; and before I proceed to shew, from the 
same source of information and authority, what 
kind of merits and quail Meat ions the principal 
and witnesses produced against him possess, I 
shall here make a stand, and upon this ground 
declare to the world, that if Mr. Fullarton will 



20£ 

bring forward any honorable man, (let him not 
attempt, to quibble upon the word honorable,) 
any man whose integrity or veracity I shall not 
be able satisfactorily and fully to impeach to the 
conviction of any impartial gentleman in the 
British Empire, I say, if lie will bring forward 
one such man in the whole island of Trinidad to 
support him in his conduct and proceedings to 
Colonel Picton, or to be his compurgator from 
satisfactory reasons which he can adduce and 
prove, for what the said MrFullarton has whis- 
pered, spoken, written, printed or published on 
the government of Colonel Picton, I here de- 
clare that I shall publicly acknowledge my 
having " wilfully, maliciously, and without pro- 
" bable cause, unmercifully and cruelly bruised, 
" wounded, and ill-treated the reputation of the 
*' said William Fullarton." 

That the relative merits of the prosecutors and 
the defender in the case of Louisa Calderon may 
appear in full contrast, and that the difference in 
their peculiar excellence may not be weakened by 
any remoteness in the place of union or contact, 
I shall proceed immediately to lay before my 
reader, from the same source of authority, an ac- 
count of the distinguished persons, from whose 
testimony and support, Spanish rights and liber- 
ties have obtained so respectable and authorita- 



205 

tive an assertion in this good country. I shall 
give the principal his due place, and assign him 
what he should have, the first post in the distin- 
guished station he has selected for himself; and 
I trust I shall be able to prove that he is better 
entitled, in point of justice and propriety, to re- 
ceive the appellation of principal in this work 
from my hands, than he is that of Colonel, which, 
for the honour of the army, he now in a great 
measure receives from his own. And before I 
proceed to the exposition of these gentlemen, let 
me again address my reader and the public, and 
say, if I fail in my proofs of convincing them 
that he and his associates are all equally entitled 
to the characters which I shall give them, and 
to the marks of honor and distinction which I 
shall annex to their names in the outset of my 
sketch, I shall lose all pretensions to veracity in 
every other part of this letter. 

The six distinguished persons in this prosecu* 
tion are, . 

1. Mr. Wm. Fullarton, principal 

% Porto Rico, a Spanish Mulatta driver and 
whipper of the galley slaves. 



3. Manuel Robles, a drunken soldier, a deserter 
from the Havannah. 



204 

4. Raphael Shando, a galley slave, a thief con- 
victed of robbery, and sentenced as such. 



5. Juan Montes. 



6. Pedro Vargas, alias Smith. 

I forbear adding the name of the lady to the 
list Mr. Fullarton has, I understand, monopolized 
her society > and I have already emblazoned her 
virtues. 

The authorities on which I disqualify the said 
Mr. Wm. Fullarton, principal, from all preten- 
sion to veracity or credit to any thing he has 
said, or may say, concerning Colonel Picton ; 
the grounds on which I disfranchise him of the 
rights and privileges of a gentleman ; the proofs 
of my having displaced and removed him from the 
attention or notice of any respectable member of 
society; and the reasons for which I have leagued 
and associated him in his present company, are 
all founded on the written evidence of the fol- 
lowing: gentlemen and the authenticated docu- 
ments annexed : I shall take them in the order 
in which these evidences appear. 

!. Captain Shelton, of the 57th regiment, in 
his declaration on oath, page 47 of this letter. 



2. Sir Samuel Hood, K. B. in his address to 



205 , 

.Mr. Fullarton in council on the 24th of March, 
page 5% ; and in his letter to Earl Camden, late 
Secretary of State for the colonial department, 
published in Colonel Picton's letter to Lord Ho- 
bart, page 69, and reprinted here in the Appendix 
No. 8. in which, speaking of Mr. Fullarton's reply- 
to that letter, he says, ei it is false, almost in eve- 
« ry page." 



3, The resolutions of his Majesty's council in 
Trinidad on the 31st. March 1803, printed in 
the Appendix No V. 



4. Of Brigadier General Maitland, in his letter 
to Colonel Picton, dated Aug. 24. 1804, and 
printed in the Appendix No. VII. 



5. May I also without vanity add my own let- 
ter to Colonel Picton, and reprinted in the Ap- 
pendix No. VI. 



6. From the address of his Majesty's Council 
the island of Trinidad to Lieutenant Governor 
Hislop, 

And from Lieutenant Governor Hislop's 
answer to the said address. Appendix No. IX. 

. — , « 

7. From the letters and declarations of Lieute- 
nant Colonel Mosheim, of the 60th (or Royal 



206 

American Regiment, and Captains Champaign^ 
Dickson and Western of the Royal Navy. Ap- 
pendix No. 10. 

■ N ■-- .... 

8. The assertion which I here adduce as an ad- 
ditional ground of disqualifying Mr. F. from any 
pretension to the notice of a gentleman, or any 
credit or belief as a man, is founded on an obser- 
vation in his reply to Colonel Picton's letter page 
31. It is of*so shameful and scandalous a nature, 
as to exceed in turpitude and atrocity any part of 
that unparalleled mass of falsehood, and well 
warrants me in bringing it forward as one of 
those proofs, and not the most inconsiderable, 
of his character and merits. 

Colonel Picton, in his letter to Lord Hobart 
had said, " that Mr. Fullarton's conduct had ex- 
ic cited so high a degree of indignation in the 
" mind of his friend Brigadier General Mait- 
" land, that he directed his agent, Mr. Adam 
" of Crutched Friars, to place all his pecuniary 
€c means at his disposal, to resist what he consi- 
" dered a scandalous conspiracy against his Ma- 
" jesty's service." On this amiable and honor- 
able mark of esteem and affection, Mr. Fullarton 
has been pleased to attach the following con- 
struction, to which I earnestly request the atten- 
tion of my reader. " It is also by no means 
« ''•^-obable that he (Brigadier General Mait- 



207 

** land) may have directed nis, agent, Mr. Adam 
" of Crutched- Friars, to place his pecuniary 
<c means at the disposal of Colonel Picton, ei- 
"ther from transactions with which I am unac- 
" quainted, or, perhaps, on account of the al- 
<( lotment of land on the river Carom, in Trini- 
" dad, of which it is understood, mark reader, of 
14 which it is understood, that he the said Briga- 
u dier General Maitland obtained or expected to 
" obtain, the occupancy by the aid of Colonel Pic* 
" ton." That is, in other words which can nei- 
ther be misunderstood or mistaken, that B. G. 
Maitland had offered or given a pecuniary bribe 
to Colonel Picton to assist him in procuring an 
allotment of land in Trinidad ! O malignity of 
interpretation ! — a bribe from General Maitland 
— and to whom ? to Colonel Picton ! to do 
what ? to obtain what could not be obtained : 
the folly and absurdity of the insinuation are 
only equal to its baseness. Let any officer, na- 
val, military, or civil — let any gentleman, any 
man of honor or honesty, read this, and refrain 
from feeling a just indignation if he can. To 
that just and honorable indignation I leave him, 
and proceed to the last, but not least, proof of 
his title to that post I have given him, and of the 
consideration and respect which are due t% him 
from that particular class in Society in which he 



20S 

once had, as I shall \>e able to prove, unmerited 
rank. 

Q. I must no\v inform the public, from autho- 
rity beyond all question, that an official report 
was made by General the Earl of Carhampton, 
Commander in Chief of his Majesty's forces in 
Ireland, respecting the unfaithful returns made 
by Mr. Fullarton as Colonel of a regiment under 
his Lordship's command ; that the original do- 
cuments were transmitted to the Adjutant Ge- 
neral's office, Horse Guards, for the purpose of 
substantiating the charge ; and with nonest, 
heart-felt satisfaction do I record it, to the eter- 
nal honor of our illustrious Commander in Chief] 
that a public official communication of the above 
mentioned circumstance was made by his Royal 
Highness to the Secretary of State's Office, pre- 
vious to Mr. Fullarton 's leaving England. On 
this last transaction I shall not make a single 
comment. 

I now take my leave of Mr. Principal Fullar- 
ton, confident that I have fulfilled my engage- 
ment in proving him fully entitled to the post of 
honor I have assigned him. I proceed to the 
associates, Proximi, sed non longo intervallo. 



£09 

Porto Rico, First Associate — A Spanish Mu- 
latto Driver and Whipper of Galley Slaves. 

The Escrivano Castro, on Oath, before the 
Court. 

" Q. Do you know Porto Rico ? . 
■'" A. Yes. 

" What is his general character? 

"A. One of those who get drunk frequently. 

" Q. What is his calling or trade? 

'" A. The man who looked after the chained 
ci negroes. 

" Q. Is he a man whom you would believe 
"on your oath ? 

" A, I have doubts whether I would or not." 

Vallot the Jailer^ on Oath. 

6< Q. In what capacity did the mulatto man 
" Porto Rico act under vou ? 

"A. Driver of the galley slaves. 

" Q. Where is he now? 

"A. I do not know, but believe he is with 
11 Mr. Fullarton." 

Don Joseph Far/an, on Oath. 

" Q. Did you know Porto Rico ? 
p 



>10 

rt A. Yes. 

^ Q. What was his situation and general 
55 character? 

" A. An overseer of the chained negroes and 
" a borrachon*. 

" Q. Would you believe Porto Rico on his 
" oath? 

" A. Less than either Manuel Robles or Ra~ 
u phael Shando, whom I have before sworn, that 
ei if I had no other proof than their oaths, I 
64 should not believe, 

' " Q. Why would you not believe Porto Rico 
Si on oath? 

" A. Because he is still worse than the others. 

" Q. Were they not all officers of justice un- 
'" der you in the government of General Pic ton ? 

"A. Yes." 

The Honorable Philip Langton^ on Oath. 

u Q. As a Magistrate in the different tribu- 
" nals, were you acquainted with Manuel Ro- 
u bles, Raphael Shando, Porto Rico, and Juan 
" Montes, and what were their different cha- 
" racters ? 

< ' A. The three former were Alguazils of very 

* i. e. An habitual drunkard. 



211 

" infamous characters; of Juan Montes, I can't 
" say any thing bad to my own Knowledge. 

" Q. Would any tribunal in this Colony have 
" taken the oaths of these men ? 

" A. No, I would not certainly, nor do I 
" believe any other tribunal would. 

" Q. When you say that as a Magistrate you 
" would not take the oaths of Shando, Robles, 
" and Porto Rico, do you mean to say that you 
c< have ever seen a record or conviction for any 
" crime that would preclude them giving evi- 
5* dence on their oath ? A. As they were never 
" brought before me, I did not investigate all 
" their characters, but from such authorities 
" as I could not doubt I considered them as 
" culprits." 

So far to prove the title of Senor Porto Rico 
to the place of associate with principal Fullar- 
ton. As I conceive it unkind to separate those 
partners in their respective shares of individual 
merit, and as it might be a little tedious to my 
reader to travel distinctly through the biogra- 
phy of each, I shall not dissociate the other 
three candidates, viz. second, third, and fourth 
associate, Manuel Robles, Raphael Shando, and 
Juan Monte*. 

v 9, 



212 



EscrmMO Castro^ on Oath. 

" Q. Do you know Raphael Shando ? 

M A. Yes. 

" Q. What is his general character ? 

u A. He had both bad and good qualities. 

" Q. Is he a man whom you would believe on 
" his oath ? 

" A. I have doubts whether I would or 
" not. 

" Q. Do you know Manuel Robles ? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. What is his general character. - 

" A. He lived the greatest part of his time 
*' in liquor. 

" Q. What do you mean by living in li- 
(i quor ? 

" A. Always drunk. 

ct Q. What was his trade or calling ? 

" A. An inferior Alguazil. 

" Q. Is he a man whom you would believe 
<e on his oath ? 

<l A. I have doubts whether I would or 
" not. 

\* Q. Where are the three last mentioned 
" persons ? 

" A. I have heard that they are in London. 



213 

" Q. When and with whom did they em- 
<< bark?" 

Counsellor Hayes., on the part of the pro- 
secution, objected to this question. I pre- 
sume on the ground that he did not wish to 
have it recorded in the return to the manda- 
mus, and proclaimed to the world, that these 
respectable Senors accompanied Mr. Fullarton 
in the same ship on his return to England. 
:" And when Mr. Attorney General on the be- 
u half of the defendant was heard in reply, 
U his Excellency was pleased to postpone the 
" decision thereon unto the next court day. 
" On which day his Excellency over- ruled the 
" objection, and the Escrivano answered to the 
" question, When' and with w r hom did Raphael 
" Shando, and Manuel Robles embark ? 

" A. I do not exactly know when, but they 
<f went in the convoy in which Governor Ful- 
" larton sailed. 

" Q. You have said that you would not 
" believe Raphael Shando on his oath; do you 
" speak of your own knowledge of his cha- 
" meter ? 

" A. I have the same opinion of him as 
" I entertain of all the other Alguazils in this 
" country. 



214 

" Q. In respect to Porto Rico, did you 
" speak from your own knowledge of his cha- 
u racter ? 

' ' A. Yes, from my oxvn knowledge" 

Vallot the Jailor^ on Oath. 

iC Q, Do you know one Raphael Shando?- 

" A. Yes. 

' £ Q. Was he not a galley slave in your cus- 
ei tody? 

f A. Yes. 

" Q. Do you know Manuel Robles. 
■ ? A. Yes. 

c< Q. Was he ever in your custody ? 

" A. Yes, as a prisoner. 

" Q. Wlrat was his general conduct in jail? 

il A. Drinking much. 

" Q. On what account was Raphael Shando 
" put in prison ? 

" A. For having stolen the money arising 
" from the tax on houses, which he collected as 
" Alguazil 

u Q. Was he confined merely on accusation, 
" or as a punishment after conviction ? 

" A. I don't lenow, he was sent by order of 
u the intendant of police, Mr. de la Sauvagere. 



215 

" Q. By the Court. Was Mr. De La Sau- 
" vagere then Intendant of the police ? 

" A. Yes, and acting as Alguazil Mayor. 

" Q. For what was Manuel Robles com- 
ic mitted. 

" A. For want of attendance to his duty as 
" Alguazil." 

Don Josef Farf an, on Oath. 

" Q. Did you know Manuel Robles and 
u Raphael Shando ? 

" A. Yes. 

" Q. Of what country were they, and what 
" was their general character ? 

( ' A. They were Spaniards ; Manuel Robles 
" was a known borrachon. 

" Q. Could you credit either of them upon 
" their oaths ? 

u A. If I had no other proofs but their oaths, 
" I should not believe them. 

" Q. What reasons had you for saying that 
<i if you had no other proofs than the oaths of 
" Raphael Shando, and Manuel Robles, you 
" would not believe them ? 

" A. The same that I should have of any 
" other vicious man of bad conduct." 



216 

Mr. St. Pe\ on Oath. 

tc Q. As long resident in the Colony, hold- 
" ing public employments under the Spanish 
" and English Governments, was you ac- 
" quainted with Manuel Robies and Raphael 
" Shando, and what was their general cha- 
* c racter ? 

" A. I knew them Alguazils of the Cabildo, 
" while I was a member of it : they were men 
" of bad enough morals, often drunk. 

" Q. Do you know Juan Montes, and what 
" was his character ? 

. " A. I knew him for two or three years, he 
" was a troublesome and turbulent man." 

Don Juan Montes, the fifth associate, swears 
upon the trial of Colonel Pic ton, that he was 
" Assistant to the Engineers," and before the 
conquest, he was " in the military," Whe- 
ther his friend Mr. Fullarton suggested this 
witty pun of "Assistant to the Engineers? to 
denote a man carrying a spade and shovel, I 
know not, or whether by swearing he was in 
the military, implies that he is a deserter from 
it, I leave also to him and Mr. Fullarton to 
decide, but I know and I assert that he was 



217 

a bad and useless pioneer, and that he was a 
drunken soldier," and is a deserter from the Ha- 
vannah ; very generally believed in Trinidad 
to be a spy to the Spanish Government, and 
upon "hat account, perhaps, approved by Mr. 
F. as Deputy Alguazii Mayor, (or Under-S eiirf) 
but whom the board of Cabildo unanimously 
refused to admit in that situation as a degraded 
man; and notwithstanding the means which 
Mr. F. employed to overawe the board into 
compliance, it persisted in its resolution, and 
sent a strong and spirited protest against Mr, 
Fuilarron to the Secretary of State's ofhce, sta- 
ting their reasons for not complying with his 
mandate. 

Bon Pedro Vargas^ the Sixth Associate. 

It is difficult to determine on the amphibious 
character of this associate. On Colonel Pic- 
tons trial, he swore that he was a la wye; in the 
Spanish West Indies. It seems likely that the 
cold of this country had frozen up the legal 
faculty, for when he was questioned upon 
oath by Mr. Dallas, viz. " Q. Whether there 
" is any part of that book (alluding to the 
M Recopilacion of the Laws of India relating 
*' to South America) which directs what legal 



218 

u proceeding shall be had when a person is 
" suspected of robbery" — His Answer was, 
and mark the answer of a man who the moment 
before .swore " that he studied those Laws as 
lc a Profession,*' and a little time afterwards 
swore " that he was examined on his know- 
4t ledge before a full Council, after five years 
" practice in the inferior Courts, and a sub^ 
€i sequent two years practice in the superior 
u Courts*' — " I do not know, it is something 
6C difficult to say, I have not read them lately/' 
and the work is in three volumes." And upon 
being further asked, Q, ci I want to know if 
" these books contain any direction to a crimi- 
** nal Judge how to proceed in matters of ac- 
4< cnsation r" He answers, with equal knoAV- 
ledge and exhibition of profound legal infor- 
mation, " I am not prepared for that question, 
tc but notwithstanding, I will tell you with 
" consideration." And after carefully inspect- 
ing the work for some time, he was again asked, 
<c Q. Will you swear that there is, from begin- 
il ning to end of these three volumes, a single 
u page prohibiting the practice of torture?" What 
was his answer to this, after all this careful in- 
spection of the work, why, " I will not swear 
" there is not in these three volumes. I think 
" not. I cannot tell." Here are specimens 



219 

of Mr. Smith Vargas's fitness to be produced 

as a Spanish lawyer to explain what is and what 
is not Spanish law ; a man who is compelled 
to acknowledge before the whole Court, that he 
knows nothing about the matter. But I shall 
go a little further inro the merits and accom- 
plishments of this profound lawyer, Mr. Pedro 
Smith Vargas. When he was asked upon oath, 
" Q. Upon your oath have you not been em- 
<c ployed by Colonel Fullarton to take the 
" examination of different persons? 

*' A. Colonel Fullarton wished to have the as- 
" sistance of my opinion, hut I would no t give it" 
positively swears on the holy Evangelist in open 
Court " that he would not give him the assist- 
" ance of his opinion ;" and being again asked, 
" Q. Have you at any time been employed in 
" taking examinations against General Picton !" 
What was his answer, " No Sir." But he 
stammers a little and acids, u I believe not, 
" I was not employed officially." And to the 
very next question, " Upon your oath have 
" you not been employed by Colonel Fullar- 
" ton to take the examinations of different per- 
li sons against General Picton ?" He answers 
in the true spirit of what is called in this coun- 
try " an Old Bailey Solicitor/' " / was em- 
i ' ployed as Interpreter to translate them. " He 



220 

would not answer the question, he would nei- 
ther say yes or no ; he would have a salvo for 
his conscience. However " this sort of vermin 
" when they are forced into day upon one point 
" are seen to burrow in another ; but they shall 
" have no refuge ; I will make them bolt out 
•' of all their holes." The vagrant who swears 
" No, Sir," and "« I believe not, " and "not 
" employed officially," where do I find him? 
On the oath of Don Francis Salazar before 
the Honorable Mr. John Black, one of His 
Majesty's Council as stated in the minutes of the 
Council : " In a private room into which also en- 
44 tered Don Juan Montesand Don Pedro Var- 
" gas, an I two other gentlemen in blue coats and 
11 red capes and collars, (all Aides de Camp) 
" one of which the deponent thinks was the 
i( English Provost Marshal, Mr. Adderley, and 
M being thus assembled, the Colonel (i. e. of 
" those Gentlemen so assembled) cut two slips 
" of paper, which he placed with a wafer in the 
" form of a cross on a book, and gave it to 
" Pedro Vargas, who swore deponent to declare 
" the truth to such questions as should be asked 
4( him, that the said Vargas then acted as secre- 
(t tarVy writing the Colonel's questions, and 
" deponent's answers, which were to the fol- 
11 lowing effect ; 



221 

" Declares that Vargas wrote his declaration 
" and then required him to sign it, which he 
" refused to do, until he had read it; that 
" Montes urged him much zvhile telling the 
" truth, to tell more than he knezv, seemingly 
ic with a design of criminating Governor Pic- 
" ton. That after having signed, Vargas 
" charged him not to reveal his having been 
" examined by any person, for that the affair 
" must be kept secret" and deponent then left 
the house. 

Again, on the oath of John Pla, a Spaniard, 
(sworn and interrogated before the Council, 
and extracted also from the minutes,) who de- 
posed, " that he was sworn to secrecy by 
" Colonel Fullarton in person, haying with him, 
" Mr Vargas, one Montes who was formerly 
" a Spanish soldier, and another secretary who 
" he believes was Mr. Adderlev : On being 1 
" asked, if he knows who occasioned his being 
" examined, he swears, Montes was the cause, 
<c and that he has been the principal cause of 
" all the discord and inisint el iiger.ee that has 
" happened lately in the island by his intriguing 
" and lying." Mr. Smith Vargas 'swears that 
he was not employed "officially" by Mr. Ful- 



larton. The next tmoffichl negociatkm that I 
find him employed in, is the infamous busi- 
ness of the unhappy priest # which I have de- 
tailed. He knew the temper of the Reverend 
Father, and was a fit instrument to administer 
to him. On the oath of Maria Calderon in the 
return to the mandamus, on her being asked, 
" Q. Did you ever see the register of your 
" daughter's birth ?" She answers " Don Pe- 
" dro Vargas shelved me a copy of the register 
v" which had been given him by the Curate. 
<c Q. Who is Don Pedro Vargas ? A. He was 
" the Linguist of the Governor who carried 
" my daughter aw r ay." My reader will recol- 
lect this flagitious priest having acknowledged 
before, that he had delivered two of these forged 
certificates, one to the " other secretary Don 
Juan Monies \ when he was going to England, 
and another to the mother of Louisa Calderon. 

So far for Mr. Smith Vargas's consistent tes- 
timony ! As to who Mr. Smith Vargas is, or 
what he was when he came to this country and 
then left it with Mr. Fullarton, this, as I have 



opinor. 



Haec res et jungit, junctosetservat Amicos. 

Hor. Sat. III. 1. 



223 

said, Is a more difficult business to determine. 
He swears himself that he was known to my 
Lord Hobart, as Mr S?nith. Q. by Mr. Dallas, 
" Did you pass at any time under the name of 
" Smith?— A. Yes, I did; it came to the 
" knowledge of Lord Hobart before the peace 
" was concluded." Upon this it would be ridi- 
culous to observe further, {et res non nult e.vponL) 
That his Lordship had any part in introducing 
him to the acquaintance of Mr. Fullarton or Mr. 
Adderley, I shall never for a moment believe. 
I know, from unquestioned authority, that I 
can produce, that he was living in a garret or 
cellar in Poland Street, a little before or at the 
time when he was deterred by his principal, and 
that in that neighbourhood, he passed for a sort 
of alchymist and botanist, and some said an as- 
trologer. However, the happy combination of 
those heterogenous qualities stamped him with 
a versatility, which well suited the part which 
his principal intended for him, and he was 
packed up along with the rest of the tools and 
instruments to be used as occasion required, 
when they all arrived at the great forge or labo- 
ratory of their operations. I have shewn what 
a conspicuous part he acted there in the present 
'case of Louisa Calderon. What may be the 



224 

theatre of his future exhibition, a person rnay 
give a shrewd conjecture. He will no doubt 
fill an elevated situation, whatever new region 
he may seek to adorn. 

I have now drudged through a duty, the 
most disgusting to myself, and, I have no 
doubt the most irksome to my reader, of any of 
those which I have assigned to myself, or shall 
impose upon them in the course of this publica- 
tion. I have extended this painful investiga- 
tion of the characters of the principal and the 
associates, further than I at first intended, I 
have however adhered to my original pledge. 
I have given authorities of unquestioned inte- 
grity for every syllable I have advanced. If any 
attempt should be made to invalidate what I 
have stated * it is not my testimony or assertion 
that is to be contravened. Thank Heaven ! 
I have not yet had the misfortune to be driven 
into such company : I know nothing of them. 
Should the Principal enter the Arena, and plead 
for his associates ; he must indict the whole 
Court at the Port of Spain, nay, he must at- 
tack the whole island of Trinidad, and what 
success he can promise himself, even with the 
aid of such powerful auxiliaries as Porto Rico, 



225 

Manuel Robles, Raphael Shando, Juan Montes, 
and Mr, Smith, alias Pedro Vargas, I leave for 
his and their consideration. Consigning them 
therefore to the Great Master, whose spirit pre- 
sided over all their actions, and dismissing them 
for ever from any future notice, observation, or 
remark, I shall proceed to make a few comments 
on a part of this case, which was vauntingly 
pressed by Mr. Fullarton's counsel. It is, 
" that so far from having found torture in 
? practice under the former governors, he, 
" Colonel Picton, attached to himself all the 
i( infamy of " having invented this instrument 
" of cruelty." 

Mr, G* read the return of the mandamus, 
and rises in his place, and tells the Court 
(I was by and heard him) that Colonel Pic- 
ton " invented this instrument of cruelty." O 
intolerandam audaciam i What must be the 
nature of that practice or that profession which 
seduces, or obliges a man to say that which he 
knows, which, on the oath of many he is taught, 
he is instructed to know, is not the fact?* 

* Die igitur, quid Causidicis civilia praestent 
Oflicia, et magno comites in fasce libelli ? 
Ipsi magna sonant ; — — 



£26 

Mr. G. in the return to that mandamus found 
that the picket was first ordered by Governor Pic- 
ton as an instrument of military punishment, and 
used as such by the West India, or Black Regi- 
ments, being much preferable to whipping, which 
in that hot country is certainly a worse prac- 
tice than it is in this, where many officers of the 
first characters condemn its use. Mr. G. 
knew from the Magistrate Mr. Begorrat' in 
the same return, that Colonel Picton had no 
more to do with the ordering of the picket to 
Louisa Calderon, than Mr. G. himself had,/ 
for Mr. Begorrat swears in his answer to the 
question, " Q. Was the picket ordered to 
*' Louisa Calderon a Spanish mode of punish- 



Tunc immensa cavi spirant mendacia f olles 
Conspuiturque sinus. 

Juy. Sat 7. 1. 106. 

Tell me, if you please, 
What gain the laser's active life affords, 
His sacks of papers, and his war of words ? 
Heavens 1 how he bellows in our tortur'd ears ; 
then his passions rise I 

Then forth he puffs th' — 

From his swoll'n lungs '. then the white foam appears, 
And, drivelling down his beard^ his vest besmears 1 
VideMr. Gilford's Translation, 1. 166. 



§27 

fi merit, or were you at liberty as a Spanish 
" Judge to apply the mode of torture as you 
'" thought most advisable? A. The modes 
" of torture are not absolutely defined by the 
" Spanish law, it is left to the discretion of 
" the Judge, and recommended by the law 
" to the Judge to administer the torture ac- 
" coram £ to the constitution and strength of 
" the accused. And as 1 did not consider the. 
" picket in the gaol but as a very slight torture 
" in comparison to tortures used in Spain, I or- 
M dered it in preference to Louisa" 

What practice or profession, I say again, au- 
thorizes a man to make assertions of this general 
and unqualified nature, particularly when they 
are calculated to load a man in a high station 
with most unmerited and most unjust obloquy ? 
In the same style of beautiful and splendid de- 
clamation did the head of the English bar ob- 
serve upon the punishment that it should in 
future lose its present appellation of picketing, 
and be called pictoning Why, " T vow to 
" God," (a favorite rhetorical flourish of this 
" causidicus inficetus" and so may the habit of 
calling on his God' never depart from him,) I 
could make as good a pun as this myself, could 
I condescend to such contemptible, impertinent 

Q 2 



' 228 

trifling, I could be even Garrulous on the point? 
until my reader lost all patience with me. I 
might be called also a quibbler or a punster, or 
any other mean or low thing my reader pleases, 
but I should not convince any person that I was 
an accomplished gentleman, or that I had the 
capacity of a profound lawyer. I should nei- 
ther shew the extent of my research, nor any 
power of combination, I should not prove my- 
self competent, like the head and ornament of 
another bar, and be able in his language to tell 
Mr. G. that perhaps he may reply to the 
arguments I have advanced in this book by 
some such silly idle pun as that, or " by some 
<e curt contumelious, and unmeaning apothegm 
" delivered with the fretful smile of irritated 
te self-sufficiency and disconcerted arrogance ; 
tc or even if he can be brought to a consider- 
" ation of this momentous question, by what 
l( miracle could the pigmy capacity of a stinted 
" pedant be enlarged to a reception of the sub- 
" ject" " The endeavour to approach it 
ik would have only removed him to a greater 
" distance than he was before, as a little hand 
" that .strives to grasp a mighty ball is thrown 
" back by the reaction of it's own effort to 
V comprehend it. It may be given to a Hales 
" or a Hardwicke to discover and retract a 



229 

" mistake; the errors of such men are only 
" specks that rise for a moment upon the sur- 
" face of a splendid luminary ; consumed by 
" its heat, or irradiated by it's light, they soon 
ei purge and disappear; but the perversenesses 
" of a mean and narrow intellect are like the 
" excrescences that grow upon a body natu- 
" rally cold and dark, no fire to waste them, 
" and no ray to enlighten; they assimilate and 
" coalesce with those qualities so congenial to 
" their nature, and acquire an incorrigible per- 
(( manency in the union with kindred frost and 
(( kindred opacity. Nor indeed, Mr. Garrow, 
il except where the interest of millions can be 
(i affected by the folly or vice of an individual, 
" need it be much regretted, it hath not pleased 
" Providence to afford the privilege of im- 
" pavement." 

Language such as this, reaves and blasts like 
the bolt of heaven. This Is the style of an 
orator, a scholar, and an accomplished advo- 
cate. Let 'me advise Mr. G. to bear this in 
mind the next time he addresses a jury, and 
when he comes to speak of a gallant and ex- 
perienced officer, let bis crimination not be 
clothed in the rags and tatters of an underlino* 
player; if he is to be accused, let the man and 



230 

_, 

the matter correspond, let Colonel Picton and, 
the language used towards him, in some way 
or other assimilate, let it at least have a noble 
cast 



I have now finished all I think necessary to 
say at present on the question of Louisa Cal- 
deron. I have laboured to prove, 

1. That Colonel Picton acted upon the laws 
which he found existing in the island of Trini- 
dad at the period of the conquest, subject to 
such deviation in some instances, as the orders, 
which he received from the Commander in 
Chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby, directed; and 
these laws were the laws of Old Spain, or Cas- 
tile, modified by the Recopilacion de las In- 
dias. 

% That in concurring with the petition or 
recommendation or the legal Magistrate, Don 
Hilario Begorrat, in the case of Louisa Calde- 
ron, Colonel Picton conformed precisely to the 
letter and spirit of those laws, as reported in 
the different accredited law authorities obtain- 
ing in the Colony, and as recommended to 



231 / 

him by the only persons capable of advising 
him, the Magistrates and the Escrivano, 
whose duty it was to lay the necessary informa- 
tion before him in the absence of an Assess or, of 
whom he had been deprived by authority, 

3. That in the case of Louisa Calderon, Co- 
lonel Picton neither directly nor indirectly as- 
sumed any power, privilege, or authority, that 
(as he was instructed, and as 1 have proved) 
did not by the existing laws belong to him, as 
Governor and the supreme Tribunal ; and in 
this case his decree was a mere bare compliance 
in that capacity with the requisition of the le- 
gal Magistrate, formally and officially laid be- 
fore him by the Spanish Escrivano, and which 
he had every reason to believe, and no reason 
to question, to be both the law and the prac- 
tice of the Colony. 

4. That the actual decree in this case was dic- 
tated to Colonel Picton totidem verbis by the 
Escrivano Castro, and advised as the necessary 
lesal decree, conformable to the requisition of 
the Magistrate, for the mode and execution of 
which, the defendant was completely exoner- 
ated by the Spanish law, and the entire respon- 
sibility for its mode of execution, placed by 



232 



the same law on the ordinary Alcaldes or Ma-; 



gistrates, 



If I have been able satisfactorily to convince 
the British Public that I have succeeded in 
my endeavours to prove these four positions, if 
in the additional topics connected with these 
positions which I have discussed at some length, 
I have also been able to prove, that the purity 
and moral rectitude of Colonel Picton's motives 
are placed beyond all question or doubt, I may 
flatter myself with having done much. If I 
have also shewn, that his conduct in the parti- 
cular case of Louisa Calderon, as well as the ge- 
neral merits of the whole of his administration, 
are attested by all the respectable persons 
brought forward before the Court at Port of 
Spain, a place where all the circumstances of 
this business, as well as those of his Govern- 
ment were fully known and ascertained ; that 
his enemies, the very persons who were sent 
out to Trinidad with the particular and dis- 
tinct purpose to arraign him and take evidence 
on this charge of Louisa Calderon's, and who 
were not prevented from calling upon whom 
they pleased to establish any demerits or acts of 



%33 

tyranny, injustice, cruelty, or rapacity against 
him, I say, if these enemies, active, industri- 
ous, and most willing as they were to find evi- 
dences of any of these acts, were not able to 
produce one person of any rank, situation, or 
character, to say one wor d against the conduct 
of General Picton during a long and difficult 
administration of seven years. If all these 
things are fairly and fully made out, I believe 
I shall be acquitted of all presumption or self- 
sufficiency in the confidence with which I have 
ventured this publication to the People of Eng- 
land, and on the sentence which I relied they 
will ultimately pass upon it. I am more and 
more strengthened and supported in this con- 
fidential expectation, when I call to my mind, 
and beg leave to call also to their attention, 
that during a period of nearly three Years that 
this investigation is now going on, when every 
nerve has been exerted to call forth evidence of 
misconduct, when all the engines which a ma- 
lignant activity could collect and array, and all 
the resources of money, power, and perverted inge- 
nuity which have been directed and applied with 
unrelaxing perseverance, yet every iniquitous 
effort has proved incompetent and unequal to, 
call out one man of credit to support these infa- 
mous allegations, nor to detect one circumstance 
in the character or proceedings of Colonel Pic- 



£34 

ton's life unbecoming an officer, an honest man, 
and a gentleman. Let me therefore safely ap^ 
peal to the People of England, and triumphantly 
ask, is there another instance in the records of 
the nation, where after such a scrutiny as has 
taken place into the conduct, private and public, 
of this officer, is there, I say, anpther instance in 
the long roll and catalogue of great and cele^ 
"brated characters, whose lives have adorned the 
annals and history of our island, of a man who 
has come out of this fiery trial with so un- 
spotted a reputation as Colonel Picton ? If there 
he not, and I here challenge any man to prcn 
duce the instance, then, People of England, 
do I demand from your justice a verdict for 
this distinguished officer of — unanimously— 
NOT GUILTY. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS, 

MR. DALLAS, that eloquent, enlightened, 
comprehensive and gentlemanlike advocate,* 
opened his Address to the Jury in the follow- 
ing manner, 

" Gentlemen, 

" The case before you is of a novel and extra- 
f* ordinary nature; nor do I mean to deny, tj.iat 
" in whatever light it is considered, whether 
f with regard to the public or to the individual, 
<' it is of the greatest magnitude and impor- 
tf tance: on the one hand, nothing can more 
" concern the public than that extensive powers 
" should not be perverted to the purposes of 
f l malice and oppression ; and on the other, that 
" the individual should not suffer, if he has 
" lawfully exercised the authority with which he 
Cf was invested. If the defendant hath done 
v nothing more than what"' he deemed a faithful 



* Mira in sermone, mira etiam in ore ipso vultuque sua- 
vitas. Ad hoc ingeirium excelsum 7 subtile, dulce^ facile, 
eruditum in causis agendis. 

Plin. Ep, 13, 2. 



236 

il discharge of his duty, he should not be con- 
H signed over to ruin" 

The truth and propriety of the above obser- 
vations no reasonable man living can question, 
and on that account I have chosen them as a sort 
of motto to the few general reflections which 
I shall add to the case that I have now detailed 
to the public, and also with a view of making 
a few comments on the principle of the remark* 
so stated, 

The case is not only novel and' extraordi^ 
naiy in its principles, but; there are features of 
peculiarity in some of the numerous circum- 
stances attending it, which must attract the 
attention of the most incurious person ; circum- 
stances which, I have no doubt, stagger the be- 
lief of the most credulous, and puzzle the under- 
standing of the most reflecting. It is one, and 
not the least of those curious circumstances, 
that an officer, placed as Colonel Picton was, 
as a mere Military Commandant in the Govern- 
ment of Trinidad for upwards of five years, 
with wh^t I may justly call double sentries on 
his charge, and his conduct of that charge ; on 
one hand the Commander in Chief of the West 
Indies, close to the scene of action, with a con? 



237 

stant correspondence going forward between 
him and this Commanding Officer ; a new, and 
latterly, a very full commercial intercourse ac- 
tively carried on between this Colony and all 
the neighbouring islands ; every avenue, channel, 
and passage of communication, free and open 
to every description of persons ; and on the other 
hand, His Majesty's Ministers, the Secretary 
for the Colonial Department, who for reasons 
which it is unnecessary to detail here, did look 
upon the Colony of Trinidad as a most impor- 
tant possession, and which it certainly was at 
one time the intention of His Majesty's Govern- 
ment to make the Theatre or Focus of a very 
extensive system of future operations towards 
the South American Colonies ; I say, thus 
doubly watched by near and distant officers, 
by civil and military, it certainly appears not 
a little extraordinary, how a system which has 
been lately denounced with every vile epithet 
which the language could furnish, could have 
been suffered to have gone on so long in the 
very faces of those persons whose duty it was 
to receive information upon this subject, to exa- 
mine it's foundation, and to take such imme- 
diate steps as the circumstances required. Of 
two things one must have occurred ; either the 
Commander in Chief and His Majesty's Minis-* 



§,38 

ters received no reports of these proceedings- of 
if they did receive them, they neglected their 
duty, and took no notice of them. That the 
first however was actually the ease, the Minis- 
ter's letter to Colonel Picton affords a most 
reasonable presumption* Lord Hobart, then 
Secretary for the Colonial department, says, in 
his letter of July 19, 1802, 

" The first official notification I have received 
" of any ^dissatisfaction at your Government 
" has been from yourself ) and I can only ob- 
" serve, that the zeal and ability you have 
" uniformly shewn, in maintaining the se- 
* curity and tranquillity of the island during 
" the very critical period of your command, 
" would alone call upon me to receive any ac- 
" counts of that kind with the greatest circum- 
" spect ion. 

(Signed) " Hobart." 

" To Brigadier General Picton, 
&c. &c, &C." 

The date of this letter is July 1802, about the 
period of the appointment of the ill-fated com- 
mission. At this time, therefore, it is certain, 
that Colonel Pictoirs Government not only re- 
mained unimpeached to his Majesty's Ministers, 



§§9 

but bis ** zeal and ability" were distinguished 
in their estimation. Let us see how he was 
considered by the Military Commanders : The 
Commander in Chief in the West Indies, on the 
16th of August 1802, was Lieutenant General 
Grinneld, whose public dispatches on the 11th 
and 13th of August following, (some weeks af- 
ter Mr. Principal Fullarton and his associates 
had sailed for England with their cargo of cri- 
minations against Colonel- Pic ton) are now be- 
fore me, in which the General expresses him- 
self in the following strong terms, 

" Circumstances unexpected by Colonel Pic- 
" ton, or by any other person, have placed him 
" for a little time in a disagreeable situation ; 
" but I am fully persuaded his general conduct 
u has been such, as will convince the world of 
" his merit, and his fame will rise the higher 
" for the unmerited persecution under which 
" he now labours. 

(Signed) " W, Grinfield. 

cc Lieutenant General,'* 
(C Right Honorable Lord Hobaft, 

&C. &C. &C." 

And in his dispatch to His Royal Highness 
the Duke of York, he says, 



240 

" The disagreeable situation in which he, 
" (Colonel Picton) has unfortunately, unin- 
" tentionally, and disagreeably been placed, 
" through the extraordinary conduct of Colonel 
" Fullarton, requires me to desire you parti- 
" cularly to express my entire satisfaction of 
" Brigadier General Picton, both as a soldier 
" and a gentleman, 



(Signed) (C W. Grinfield. 

u Lieutenant General/* 



ic Colonel Clinton^ Secretary 
tl to His Royal Highness the 
u Commander in Chief." 



We find therefore that both Iiis Majesty's 
Ministers and the Commander in Chief have 
spoken out on the subject ; the first t at the 
very period of the appointment of the commis- 
sion ; and the other, immediately after its 
dissolution. Colonel Picton arrived in London 
in October 1803 : he waited on Lord Hobart a 
few days after, about the time of the arrival of 
the General's dispatches at the Secretary's office, 
and had, I suppose, some conversation with his 
Lordship on the business. In the beginning 
of December following, he was arrested by a 
King's messenger, and confined at Mr. Sparrow's 
hoxxseon the oaths and depositions of these associates 



m 

whose characters I have taken from the return 
to the mandamus, and already inserted in my 
statement. Whether this step was taken in the 
manner in which Lord Hobart avowed " he 
should receive any account of that kind" that is, 
as his Lordship says, (i with the greatest circum- 
" spection" I am not quite prepared to decide. 
This I am sure of, that he, Colonel Picton, was 
very " circumspectly'* taken up, and "very cir- 
" cumspectly" watched and guarded. An officer 
of such distinguished reputation, with such eu- 
logies from the highest civil and military autho- 
rities still sounding in his ears, is, upon the 
oaths of men*, whose testimonies, (from the 
depositions on oath of every respectable man 
and magistrate that was called upon the oc- 
casion, who lived in the country, and knew 
these men for years,) " would not be be- 
lieved upon their oaths, taken up and impri- 
soned ! ! 1 It does not belong to' the duty I 
have imposed upon myself in writing this ad- 
dress, to examine into the causes which induced 
His Majesty's confidential servants to come to 
the resolution of believing the oaths of these 



* The names signed to the indictment found against Colo- 
nel Picton are, Louisa Calderon, Raphael Shando> Pedro 
Vargas, and Juan Montes. 
R 



£42 

vagrants, and of putting Colonel Picton upon 
his defence; but it is very much to my pur- 
pose to slate the fact*, and the circumstances 
connected with that fact, for the important use 
which I shall have by and by to make of it. 

In an officer, whose merit had been previously 
so highly appreciated for his conduct " under 
" circumstances of considerable difficulty and 
" danger," it cannot appear at all extraordi- 
nary, that a considerable share of confidence 
might be placed ; that a general rectitude in 
the measures which he pursued, might be very 
fairly presumed, and that large allowances should 
be made for any deviations which he might feel 
himself constrained to make from the ordinary 
course of practice, during the period of his 
" critical command," as my Lord Hobart very 
justly calls it, no reasonable man will dispute. 
And after the statement which I have 
given of the circumstances of the case of Lou- 
isa Calderon, nozv that the public are in posses- 
sion of the large discretionary powers which he 
received from his Commander in Chief, (and let 



* Diligimus omnia yera, id est, fidelia, siraplicia, con- 
stantia : vana, falsa, fallen tia odimus. 

Cic. 



243 

it never be forgotten that that Commander in 
Chief was Sir Ralph Abercromby,) when, I say, 
the extraordinary and perilous state of the whole 
of the West India islands is considered ; when 
the most peculiar and novel state of the laws and 
ordinances of the Colony over which he was 
placed is reflected on; when the feeble state of his 
miserable and insubordinate garrison to preserve 
it's order and subjection is called to mind ; all 
these momentous circumstances ought surely 
to have made every sober minded man pause, 
before he rashly, weakly, at d presumptuously 
hazarded a condemnation of conduct, the mo- 
tives, reasons, or necessities for which, al- 
though of course thoroughly known, felt, and 
understood by Ministers, the public in general 
must have been entirely ignorant of. On great 
trying occasions of this kind, where a man's 
duty and his feelings are put into a state of war- 
fare ; when, as a Soldier, his own reputation is at 
stake, and the lives and fortunes of thousands per- 
haps resting on his decisions, he who arrogantly 
presumes to arraign measures, the propriety or im- 
propriety of which depended entirely on a chain 
of circumstances, to judge of which requires 
either close proximity, or a very just and mi- 
nute information, in my humble opinion gives 
neither a proof of his judgment, nor a pledge 

R<2 



244 

of his impartiality. But applying my reason- 
ing to the particular case of Louisa Calderon, 
from which I have deviated a little too much ; 
I think, that as to the merits or demerits of Co- 
lonel Picton in that business, there will be soon 
no doubt, nor I believe much contrariety of 
opinions : it is now fully and fairly before the 
public, and the question for them to decide is 
comprized in a very small compass ; it is this, 
Was Colonel Pict on, taking in the whole of the 
circumstances of his situation, xvarranted and 
fairly borne out in the part which he took in the 
punishment of Louisa C alder on, or not ? This is 
the simple question for the consideration and 
decision of the People of England. In the re- 
view which I have taken of the question, I have 
examined it merely on the principle of law ;. ina- 
dequate as I am to give it that degree o r la- 
mination which such an important subject de- 
serves, I flatter myself that I have investigated 
the principles of that law, and proved its prac- 
tice sufficiently, for all the purposes which I in- 
tended. But surely this is a poor, narrow, 
confined, and miserable view of the subject. Let 
me ask, will the informed and reflecting part of 
the community, make a mere law-question of 
this proceeding, when it is acknowledged with- 
out contradiction, that after Sir Ralph Aber- 



£45 

cromby had banished the former Assessor for 
his crimes, and corrupt practices, there was 
not a single Spanish lawyer to be found in the 
whole country. - 

In the consideration which I gave of the law 
part of this business, I might have carried, with 
perfect fairness, my argument much farther than 
I have done, and I might have deduced from this 
measure of Sir Ralph Abercromby's, conse- 
quences of much greater extent than I; have 
thought necessary in the conclusion of that re- 
view. I might have said and maintained, even 
before Mr. Garrow himself, that the moment 
after the execution of that measure, and the 
promulgation of Sir Ralph's sentence on the 
Assessor, there was an end to every thing that 
huvi die semblance of Spanish law. The Com- 
mander in Chief, by this act, put his shoulders to 
the pillars of the temple, and tumbled it to the 
very foundation. I say, the moment he put his 
signature to the instrument of Judge Nih ell's 
instructions, he did not leave a single stone of the 
edifice standing; all went in a crash; one stroke 
of his pen demolished the work of ages ; law 
and lawyers, Assessors and Escrivanos, all disap- 
peared, and nothing but the emphatic word 
" conscience" remained. There he built the 



246 

new tribunal, and Colonel Picton was consti- 
tuted the High Priest, the Law, and the Gospel. 

"Will the People of England decide the ques- 
tion on the sole ground of law ? Will they say 
that the Alcaldes, a set of planters, (or coun- 
try gentlemen, as we might call them here) ; men 
who it was not necessary, as Mr. Begorrat says, 
" even that they should know how to write or 
*• read," in order to be the Alcaldes, or Spanish 
Magistrates; Will they say that they should 
be masters of the Spanish law? Is De Castro, 
a miserable Escrivano, a broken-down soldier, 
and Spanish barber, to be clothed with the 
character and information of a jurisconsult? 
Is Colonel Picton, a man who never, I suppose, 
read an English law book in his life, and, I 
dare say, could not find much greater enter- 
tainment in a Spanish Recopilacion than he 
would in Biackstone, Hale, or Hardwicke* 
is he to be judged for his want of knowledge of 
Spanish law ? 'Ridiculous ! absurd in the highest 
degree ! ! Not so, thought that revered cha- 
racter Sir Ralph Abercromby, when he com- 
mitted the Colony confidently to his Govern- 
ment. View the different light in which he 
intrusted this great pledge ! See his instruc- 
tions. " Shorten and simplify proceedings, 



247 

" terminate all causes in the most expeditious 
" and least expensive manner that the circum- 
" stances will admit." And how was Colonel 
Picton to do this? Sir Ralph informed him at 
once, " according to the dictates of your con- 
" science, and the best of your abilities ;" and do 
this, he says, " although it should be contrary to 
* the usual practice of the Spanish Government" 
These were the instructions of that great charac- 
ter, who was then holding the honor and renown 
of England in his hands. These were not the 
least important actions for which his grateful 
country covered him with honors and rev/ards. 
Did Colonel Picton execute his orders ? Did he 
act " according to the dictates of his conscience^ 
il and the best of his abilities?" If he did not, 
let him be bowed down to the earth ; let him be 
punished and disgraced ; let him bt held up as a 
spectacle to this and future generations as a dis- 
grace to his country and a dishonor to the name 
of a soldier. Bu': if he has obeyed the orders of 
his Chief, has the British Nation, in its conduct 
to Colonel Picton, has it recognized the orders 
of the man, who, at the moment that he wrote 
them, conceived he was establishing the secu- 
rity of the possession which he was adding to 
the British crown, on the surest and most im- 



248 

moveable basis ? Has it examined and tried the 
legatee of this possession and of those orders, 
and who so far participated with him in a share 
of the public eulogiums, — has England tried 
Colonel Picton on Sir Ralph Abercromby } s prinr 
ciples ? the only one, I contend for, that he could 
or ought to be tried on ? A wish is vain ; but for 
a moment let me suppose that the spirit of that 
illustrious man could have appeared in the Court 
of King's Bench, when Mr. G arrow, giving 
that indication of a large and comprehensive 
mind, burst upon the Court and the Jury with 
that memorable distinction* so honorable to 



* Mr. G. appears to be fond of making those distinctions, 
and has shewn, I think, very considerable ingenuity in ex- 
plaining them ; as in the following : Mr. Garrow— u my 
u learned friend (alluding to Mr. Dallas) seems to me to en- 
cc deavour to establish a distinction where there is no diffejBv 
u ence :" so far Mr. Garrow was speaking from practice and 
experience; but, says he, u when w r e state the intention to 
c( oppress," now reader what do you imagine we do ? visum 
teneatis — why, u we mean merely that the act oppresses." 
Exquisite ! Vide Report of Colonel Picton's Trial, page 61. 

Dr. Samuel Johnson could not have done it better ; nor 
Bentley ; no, nor Hume ; but mark, it was not law Mr. G. 
was talking then, it was metaphysics. The old Justice Clerk 
of the Court of Session in Scotland, a man of great natural 
capacity, but not of profound learning^ when Mr. Maco- 



249 

his genius, between the Lazes of the Recopilacion 
delas-Indias, and those of Castile. How would 
his mild and benignant countenance have 
beamed rays of indignation upon a man,, who 
could attempt to make this impoverished, 
stunted, pedantic distinction, the criterion of 
his large, liberal, and confidential mind, when 
he ordered Colonel Picton to act " according: to 
" the dictates of his conscience, and to the best 
" of his abilities?" 

But how would he have appeared, what must 
have been his anguish, how 1- must his heart have 
been torn, when, the country forgetting (I hope 
and believe for a moment forgetting his last 
words, " His Majesty's Ministers xcill be in- 
" formed of your situation, and wilt no doubt 
M make every allowance? did record a sentence 
of condemnation, not on Colonel Picton, but 
on the orders of a man, whose name is immor- 



nochy, now Lord Meadowbank, was one day pleading a 
cause before him with his usual eloquence and deep legal in- 
formation, the Lord Justice stopped him in the middle of his 
argument, by saying, in the true Scottish accent, for which 
he was so remarkable, " Meistre Mekonowhy, you are too 
ii mctawhjsiczl ; you confound me with your metaw- 
" hysiks.?' 



250 

tal, who lives for ever in the heart of his coun- 
try, and fills a most brilliant page in it's his- 
tory. This is not declamation ! I say, and re- 
peat it again and again, if Colonel Picton has 
acted " according to the dictates of his con- 
" science, and to the best of his abilities," if 
this be proved, then the Lawyers, and Mr. G. at 
their head, may, and I shall be bold to say, will 
talk to the people of this country in vain ; in 
vain will they say, as Mr. G, said, with what 
truth, or with what portion of Mr. G.'s own be- 
lief land credit, he best knows, " without the 
tc least motive but to gratify a tyrannical disposU 
" tion to oppress an unfortunate and defenceless 
" victim of kis cruelty" The " bloody sen- 
" tence" (another of Mr. Garrow's beautiful 
flourishes) will be washed away by the repen- 
tant tears of a deluded, but sorrowing coun- 
try ; the zeal, abilities, and acknowledged in- 
tegrity of Colonel Picton will survive these un- 
worthy and unjust aspersions, and he will live, 
I trust, to add still more to the fame, wealth, 
and honor of a just and generous nation. 



There is another point of view in which this 
case might be most fairly and properly examined; 



25! 

and indeed what jxnnt of view in which it can 
be looked at, but is most important and inter- 
esting? And well might the noble and learned 
Judge say from the Bench, " This is a case, 
" Mr. Dallas, full of important points ; points of 
" much more consequence than the last to which 
" you have adverted*." 

The point I allude to is, how far Colonel 
Picton can be arraigned legally for his conduct, 
acting as he did, ie according to the dictates of 
" his conscience ;" how far he can be tried and 
punished for his ignorance of Spanish law. 
This principle of argument I do not mean to 
enlarge upon in this paper : it was insinuated 
from the highest authority, that " ignorance- of 
" law was a very good reason for mitigation of 
" punishment, but no ground for a man's not 
" being convicted." This subject is in much 
abler hands ; it is with those who will acquit 
themselves like men of deep and extensive know- 
ledge, as learned and accomplished advocates: 



* His Lordship alluded to what Mr. Dallas had said ; it 
•was, " His Lordship has now said, that we are to put out of 
" our consideration all inquiries as to actual malice ', and 
66 if the act committed were unlawful, the illegality alone 
u will be sufficient to render the defendant guilty." 



£52 

I shall therefore not presume to anticipate any 
tiling they may say upon it hereafter, and shall 
dismiss it with this single reflection, that in my 
very humble opinion, if there be upon record 
one case stronger than another, which bears a 
man out and supports him in the principle 4 ' of 
iC ignorance," and " acting according to con- 
*' science ;" if there be in the whole history of 
criminal and civil jurisprudence, a case which 
calls for and demands all the tender considera- 
tion and liberal allowances which are pleaded for ; 
upon these principles, I have no hesitation in 
saying, that that case is Colonel Picton's. 

Before I ever put my pen to paper on this sub- 
ject, I 'have unceasingly, and with emotions 
that I cannot describe, looked at this question 
in a military point of view ; the indelible impres- 
sion it made upon my mind and feelings, the 
many anxious days I passed while labouring un- 
der the painful reflections to which that viezv 
gave rise, was certainly another powerful cause 
of my presuming to publish my opinions upon 
it. I trust 1 possess the feelings and honorable 
ambition which actuate an officer who hopes to 
give some proofs of his zeal and capacity ; who 
looks at some time or other of his life through the 



253 

path of service and diligence, to the honorable 
distinctions which that zeal and that diligent ser- 
vice obtain in this country, Animated as I have 
been with these hopes, how has my heart sunk 
within me, when some unlucky combination of 
ideas came across, and the case of my respected 
friend Colonel Picton struck upon my mind, and 
instantaneously froze up the full and generous 
current of my thoughts. It is indeed a momen- 
tous question, — shall I say, a portentous one! 
The mind of a soldier is and must be affrighted 
by it : for my own part, anxious and eager as I 
am to enter into its discussion, I am repelled by 
its bulk, and I involuntarily shrink and turn away 
from its consideration. A man of Colonel Pic- 
ton's extraordinary talents, of his tried integrity, 
with his thirty-seven years of honorable and most 
meritorious service!! that an all-seeing Provi- 
dence should order it, that I was to become the 
defender of the conduct and services of such an 
officer ! that my insignificant warranty should 
be found necessary to the re-establishment of a 
Man, whose whole life has been one uninterrupted 
scene either of honorable action or of laborious 
mental employment ! Bat what shall I say, what 
will that English public feel, when they know, as 
I do, when they are told from authority beyond 
question or contradiction, that a man so en- 



£54 

dowed, with such services to entitle him to the 
highest confidence of his country, has been 
brought before the bar of that country for obe- 
dience to the orders of his Chief. The moment I 
heard the following declaration from the Court, 
i will fairly avow that I was struck with fear, 
consternation, and surprise. It is indeed a de- 
claration big with consequences of unexampled 
magnitude and interest. Frequently have I 
turned to the page which records it, and I never 
perused it without alarm. It is assuredly " full 
" of important points" vital to the army ; the 
life-cord on which every thing connected with it 
hangs. It was an adamantine chain that bound 
the Soldier to his duty— it is now the sword of 
Damocles, suspended by a hair*. 

On the Evidence for the Defendant* 

Mr. Dallas. " My Lord, I have put in the 
" Instructions under which the Defendant acted; 
" they all refer to the Spanish law, the laws of 
" the colony and under the Spanish government : 
*\ it will only be necessary to refer to the com- 
" mission of General Picton, " 



Nihil esse ei beatum, cui semper aliquis terror 



impendeat ? Cic. Tusc. 5. 



%55 

From the Court " This has nothing to d® 
€ < with the question. ' 

Miy Lawes. " It is evidence that the defen- 
? dant acted in his judicial capacity." 

From the Court. €i It can neither prejudice or 
4< benefit his case in any way.*' 

His Majesty s Instructions were read in evi- 
dence for Colonel Picton to the jury. Not a 
word of Sir Ralph Abercromby's instructions. 
Were they superseded by those of his Majesty? 
Virtually they could not; it was rendered imposr 
sible, because to do this, that is, to render the 
great ground work of these instructions of no 
avail, that part requiring Colonel Picton to act 
according to the best of his conscience, should be 
abrogated and done away. A Spanish lawyer, or 
some man versed in those laws, and armed with 
authority from the government to administer 
them, should have been sent out, otherwise 
Colonel Picton was still held to his original or- 
ders. He was still " acting to the best of his 
" conscience." On this part, no more than on 
any other, I have before proved, that the King's 
Instructions made no change whatever. Colonel 
Picton was, -by the King's instructions, placed 



25ff 

precisely where he was before. " To govern as 
*' nearly as circumstances will permit, according 
" to the terms of their capitulation," are the 
guarded words of the King's Instructions. He 
was, by those instructions, ordered a Council to 
consult with, but authorised to act contrary to 
their opinion " when the King's interest required 
" it," and to state their and his opinion for so 
acting to the Secretaries of State. Therefore on 
the principle of the question of Louisa Calderon, 
I maintain that Colonel Pic ton acted and Judged 
precisely, and without the smallest difference or dis- 
tinction, (I appeal to Mr. G arrow) on the same 
ground of instruction as he did on any previous 
act of his before those orders arrived in Trinidad. 
What is the consequence ? what then is the fair 
deduction? What is the point on which the 
whole of the question turns, the great axis on 
which it rolls ? Shall I state that the verdict of the 
Court of King's Bench runs counter to, if I may 
so express myself, the reasonable instructions of a 
Military Commander in Chief? Shall I say, 
that it marches in between the soldier and his 
superior officer? I shudder at this deduction; 
my heart misgives me, and I retire from the 
conclusion. It is not a tortured one like Mr. 
Garrow's. It is broad, plain, imposing, and 
forcible, not to be overlooked or mistaken. It 



%57 

is a decision of momentous import ; worthy the 
deepest consideration of the Government : " full 
" of important points 1 ' charged and loaded on 
every side. 

My mind is too full of matter upon this ques- 
tion to proceed securely on. I have, as an olfi- 
cer, stated the principal of the case ; I have, as a 
faithful, loyal, dutiful subject, opened the sub- 
ject to my country ; I have taken it out of the 
hands of base, designing men ; I have removed 
all the calumnies and misrepresentations which 
have been wickedly, and for the worst purposes, 
attached to it; I have brought it from night 
and darkness into broad day-light ; I have ex- 
posed it as it is, to my country and the world : 
not alone for the honor, fortune, reputation of 
him on whom this great experiment has been 
made have I volunteered in the cause, but for 
the safety and protection of those who are now 
under the very same terrors. The Magistrates 
of Trinidad acted in this case with such perfect 
conviction of their legal powers so to do, of the 
legal right they had so to act and order, that 
the intimidations of Mr. Fullarton in bringing 
this case forward as a heinous charge and crime 
were laughed at : little did -they suppose that 
the Governor of Trinidad was, on his return 



258 

from the Government, to be pelted by the pity- 
less tongues of an unthinking rabble; to be con. 
fronted and accused by miscreants whom they 
ail acknowledged and swore to be outcasts, and 
persons " not to be believed on their oaths." 
Mr. Black, one of the ablest, and most expe- 
rienced, the most wealthy Magistrate of the 
Colony, has asserted his legal, right to order 
this punishment since Brigadier General Hislop 
has assumed the Government. He punished 
Modeste Valmont in the same manner, as Mr. 
Begorrat punished Louisa Calderon; and will 
the Government of England, will it keep an 
active Magistrate and honorable man in exile in 
the West Indies, when, after thirty-five years of 
toil and labor under a burning sun, the greater 
part of that spent in the service of Government, 
when the labor of life is, or should be, relieved 
by the solaces of friends, and the comforts of 
fortune in England ? I say, will such a man be 
kept in abeyance, waiting for the hand of the 
law to lay hold on him, should he be bold 
and brave enough, like Colonel Picton, or rash 
enough, perhaps as it may turn out, to come 
home and face it's present terrors ? and why all 
this terror, dread, and apprehension ! because he 
acted as the Colonel did, and as Mr. Begorrat 
did in obedience to the law? No, no. This can- 



259 

not, will not be done, will not be suffered or 
endured. An action of damages for 40,000/. is 
actually entered against Colonel Picton for act- 
ing in obedience to other parts of His Majesty's 
instructions, which it requires no knowledge of 
the Spanish* language or of Spanish law to read 
and understand. Many are threatened against 
Brigadier General Hislop ; I know the cases. 
His instructions are, I understand, on a much 
more narrowed scale than Colonel PictonV 
He should not be left in jeopardy. It is full 
time to put an end to all these fretful circum* 
stances. The principle should be settled." for 
ever and put to eternal rest. No new sources 
or seeds of insurrection or rebellion should be 
laid. A British Governor in the dust, and a 
triumphant negro or mulatto mob are unseemly 
spectacles. They present awful considerations 
to the minds of reflecting men, to those who 
know these fiery and inflammable regions, what 
they have been, nay, what they are, and worse, 
what they may be. 

But if the dangers pointed out, be far from 
our fire sides, their apprehensions often slide 



* Vide Appendix, No. 15. for the cause, and the name 
of the gentleman who has brought the action ! 

S 2 



260 

away from our thoughts, and leave little or no 
impression. They have, however, not wanted 
my warning voice ; weak as it is, I have raised 
it, and shall continue to do so in humble hope 
and expectation that it may be of some avail ; 
that my zeal at least may help to raise others 
more powerful, or more able to join their voices 
to mine, in decrying any attempt at such dis- 
graceful proceedings in future. Let not the 
confidence of officers, naval, military, or civil, 
in those who govern or direct us, be broken up, 
or endangered ! This confidence, this discre- 
tional authority is the key and corner stone to all 
great actions. What would our immortal hero 
Nelson have done at Copenhagen, if confidence 
had not ruled his heart in that memorable con- 
test ? Would he have lived to have turned the 
balance of Europe, and gained the battle of 
Trafalgar ? — Would the conquest of the French 
in Egypt have been annexed to our military 
triumphs? Would Trinidad have remained in 
our possession ? No. We should have nothing 
of these to record. Abortive enterprizes, abor- 
tive actions. Nothing but miscarriage and 
abortion. 

When the Government or the country fails in 
their acknowledgments to the zealous and faith- 



261 

ful servant in any department, you tear up by 
the roots the very soil that nourishes and vivi- 
fies the hearts of oak that bear your honor and 
your thunder to every part of the world. Cold 
pausing consideration will come in the place, 
and supplant the instinctive ardor, the high 
jnettle, the burning zeal of those who sacrifice 
every thing dear to them in the service of that 
country. Oh ! it is a fatal mildew, corroding 
with its malignant poison, and consuming the 
principles of honorable exertion ; striking at, 
destroying, and extinguishing the punctum sa- 
llens of all honor, all courage, all manly and 
noble action. 

Far be it from my country, and far removed 
for ever from its soil be those, who would act 
upon such a base and infamous principle. If 
there be a man in the nation, who, under what- 
ever cover, mark, or protection he may have 
acted, is found capable of attempting, or perpe- 
trating such a horrible design, it is the bounden 
duty of every person, but more particularly of 
every officer who knows and regards the service, 
who sincerely and unaffectedly discharges his 
duty to the public, to the army, and to him- 
self, to assist in dragging such a man to the. bar 
of public account, and endeavouring to make 



him a spectacle of public disgrace and execra- 
tion. To prove that such a man does live and 
enjoy a high situation in this country, is one of 
the many motives which has determined my re- 
solution to write this letter. And now under the 
most sacred obligation to perform* this part of 
my work, I proceed to lay a transaction before 
that public, which, in point of atrocity of design, 
I shall not scruple to say, stands the very first 
in the full list of wicked purposes. 

I have, in page 50, alluded to " a transaction 
" of a very extraordinary nature," which I said, 
that I considered it my duty to bring forward 
before I concluded this address : I stated, that 
I had adduced authorities to prove that the two 
Commissioners had no public or private instruc- 
tions from Government, to inquire into Gover- 
nor Picton's administration, and this statement 
I made " chiefly with the view of acquitting, 
" from the fullest authority, (that of the Com- 
" missioners) the then Secretary for the Colo- 
u nial department, and the administration at 
u large, from any knowledge of, or participa- 
" tion in" the very extraordinary transaction" 
then alluded to. And I do now repeat my be- 
lief and conviction, that any such participation 
in, or knowledge of the circumstance, or any 



263 

thing connected with it, on the part of any of 
the leading members of that 1 Government, is to- 
tally impossible. I have also alluded to the steps 
which were taken against Colonel Picton on his 
return from the West Indies in page 240, and 
I have stated some public documents to shew, 
that from whatever cause this measure towards 
him might be rendered necessary, the opinions 
of His Majesty's Colonial Secretary, and those 
of the Commander in Chief in the West Indies, 
were in perfect unison at the time, respecting 
the general merits of Colonel Picton as a Gover- 
nor, an officer, and a gentleman ; and that 
whatever little suspicions might be entertained, 
or whatever surmises gained ground in conse- 
quence of these suspicions, respecting the opin- 
ion which His Majesty's Ministers entertained 
of him, by having removed him from his for- 
mer high place, as Governor and Captain Ge- 
neral of the Colony, and placed him only second 
in the Commission ; I say, those suspicions 
were obscured and lost in the general belief that 
the measure was honestly intended, and that 
Colonel Picton, in his zeal for the service and 
good of his country,, gave confidence to His 
Majesty's Government for the purity of their 
intentions towards him individually, and for 
their zealous endeavours .generally to promote 



264! - 

the public advantage. I myself heard of some 
curious stories at that time, and of some still 
more curious information, of a very particular 
nature, being sent out from this country a little 
before the Commissioners sailed from England, 
to take upon them the Government of Trinidad. 
When I was in that island, a variety of reports 
assailed my ears ; to those I paid very little at- 
tention, and indeed all remembrance of them 
would have been obliterated in my mind, if a 
document had not been transmitted to me of 
such a nature as at once to put my suspicions 
beyond all doubt, and to prove, from an autho- 
rity so high, so unspotted, so entirely beyond 
the reach of contradiction or disbelief as most 
amply and completely warrants me in giving it 
my own full and unequivocal belief, and in lay- 
ing the whole of it now before the British 
Public. 

This most extraordinary and important docu- 
ment is an affidavit of Doctor Lynch, sworn 
before the Honorable John Nihell,, Esq. Chief 
Judge of the. island; the substance of which 
was first communicated by the Doctor, in a let- 
ter to Mr. Gloster, the Attorney General of 
Trinidad, a copy of which I also annex. A 
paper involving a charge of such a nature as 



265 ■■ 

that which it proclaims, and against a person 
who ranks so high in the country, certainly re- 
quires that it should come with every proof and 
stamp of authenticity, both as to the high re- 
spectability of the author, and of the medium of 
its transmission. I therefore, not having the 
honoi of knowing the gentleman myself, consi- 
dered it a 'sacred duty, as soon as I had formed 
the idea of communicating the affidavit to the 
public, to be scrupulous in my ^inquiries con- 
cerning him; and I do now state, from the 
most unquestionable authority, from those who 
have known and who have lived with him, that 
Dr. Lynch is a person of unimpeached inte- 
grity,he is a regular graduated Doctor, a learned 
and scientific man. This gentleman, accom- 
panied by his wife and children, and with good 
prospects of success from an established family 
connexion in that island, went out from this 
country to practise as a physician ; and after 
a residence of two years' in the Colony, when 
he had ample time and opportunities to make 
himself master of every circumstance respecting 
the proceedings of Mr. Fullarton, and the for- 
mer Government of Colonel" Picton, he addresses 
the following; letter to Mr. Gloster : 



266 

<( sir, Trinidad, Feb. 18, 1805. 

" In compliance with your request, I have 
u the honor of communicating to you in writing 
u the substance of part of a conversation which 
u I had withMr. Sullivan, Chief Secretary to Lord 
a Hobart, at his Lordship's office in Downing- 
6i street, somewhat previous to the month of 
u December, in the year 1802, where I went 
" to learn on what terms Government intended 
" to grant lands in this Colony. 

"■ In the course of the conversation, Mr, Sul- 
"' livan asked me, whether I had any letters to 
w his Majesty's Commissioners ? I replied, that 
" I only had two to General Picton ; on which 
" he recommended me to procure some, if pos- 
u sible, for the first Commissioner, Colonel 
** Fullarton, as he would have it in his power 
" to be of more service to me ; for that in all 
u probability General Picton would be ordered 
" t& return to England before six months, as 
" Colonel Fullarton was instructed to invests 
" gate his past conduct in Trinidad. 

" This Sir, having been so mentioned to me, 
" as to a perfect stranger, and not in confi- 
tt dence, occasioned my surprize in the month 



267 

" of March following*, that it was not generally 
" so understood in this Colony. * 

- " Permit me, Sir, to add, that in conse- 
iC quence of the unmerited treatment which 
" General Picton has since experienced, it will 
*f give me pleasure if this communication can 
" in any, way tend to shew that that treat- 
" ment was premeditated. 

" I have the honor to be, &c. &c. 
(Signed) " Frederic J. Lynch, m. t>" 

ii To the Honorable Archibald 
"Gloster, &c. &c." 

It cannot seem surprising, that the most so- 
lemn attestation, which it is ir the power of a 
Christian to give to his declaration, should be 
considered indispensible to tills extraordinary 
document; and accorcjjnglyy when the pro- 
priety and necessity of this final stamp were 
hinted to the doctor, he came forward with the 
greatest readiness, and made the following so- 
lemn affidavit to the truth of every part of his 
statement, which he immediately transmitted to 
this country. 

Copy of Dr. Lynch' s Affidavit. 

" Trinidad. — Frederic J. Lynch of the 
Port of Spain, Island of Trinidad, Esquire, 



268 

a Doctor of Physic, maketli oath and sai% 
" that in or about the month of November, om 
C€ thousand, eight hundred and two, he was pre- 
** sent at the office of His Majesty's Secretary of 
•-' State for the Colonial department, and a con- 
iC versation then took place between this depo- 
" nent, and John Sullivan, Esquire, respecting 
Ci Trinidad, and particularly as to grants of 
"' land, about to be made to persons going thi- 
is ther, and ot what terms such grants could 
6C he obtained; when the said John Sullivan, 
* fi Esquire, in the course of such conversation, 
**. inquired whether this deponent had any let- 
* fi ters to His Majesty's Commissioners, to 
f which this deponent answered, that he had 
« c two to General Picton, Upon which the 
u said John Sullivan, Esquire, recommended 
" this deponent to procure some, if possible, 
"to the First Commissioner, Colonel Fullar- 
*? ton, and stated, that the said Colonel Ful- 
ct larton w r ouid lave it in his power to be of 
" more service to this deponent, than General 
." Picton could be, or words to that effect. 
ct And this deponent gave as a reason for such 
" recommendation, that in all probability Ge- 
" neral Picton would be ordered to return to 
* c England before six months^ as Colonel Ful- 
il larton was instructed to investigate the {then) 



269 

u past conduct of General Pic ton in Trinidad, 
<( And this deponent further maketh oath and 
4 *■ saitli, that he expressed his surprise, on his 
" arrival in this Colony, in the month of March, 
" 1803, that it was not generally known or un- 
" derstood, that the said Colonel Fullarton had 
ic such instructions, the said John Sullivan 
" having mentioned the circumstance to this 
' ' deponent as a stranger, and not in a confi- 
tc dential manner, which induced this depo- 
ee nent to relate the substance of the conversa- 
<c tion, herein before mentioned, immediately 
" after his arrival in this island, and several 
i( times since. 

"Frederic J. Lyxch, m. d." 

tc Sworn at the Port of Spain aforesaid, 
<Qhis fifteenth day of July, 1S05, 

u Before me, John Niiiell, 
Chief Justice and Judge of the Consulado. 

Here is a gentleman of the most respectable 
character, of the first order in the learned pro- 
fessions, and a man who, as he has asserted 
elsewhere, is " neither interested m the cause of 
" General Picton or of Colonel Fullarton," stat- 
ing what! ' " That in all probability General Pic- 
" ton would be ordered to return to England 
<c before six months, as Colonel Fullarton wm 



270 ' 

u instructed to investigate the then past conduct 
" of General Picton at Trinidad !!!" The.Right 
Hon. John Sullivan, then Under-Secretary to 
Lord Hobart, makes this assertion in or about 
the month of Nov. 1802, before* the Commis- 
sioners had sailed for Trinidad ! ! When I read 
this affidavit at first, I can assure my reader that 
I involuntarily started from my chair ; nor do I 
remember that in the whole course of my life, 
even on hearing the verdict against my friend, 
Colonel Picton, delivered by the jury, to have 
had my mind so agitated and affected. Mr, 
Sullivan shall hear the whole truth from me; and 
therefore before I make a single comment on the 
transaction, let me turn back a little to the re- 
spectable gentleman who has had the courage 
and independence to send this document to be 
laid before the British public, and proclaim aloud, 
that he is not one of that species or description 
of persons whom we have frequently seen in the 
West Indies, who stepping from behind an apo- 
thecary's counter, acquire all their knowledge 
and skill from the mere inspiration which the 
tropical winds afford them on their passage, and 



* The Commissioners sailed from Portsmouth the 26th 
Nov. 1802. Vide Mr. Fullarton's quarto primo, page 2. 
The conversation occurred some days before that date. 



271 

who considering themselves cleansed from their 
intellectual impurities by the ablutions which 
they receive in that latitude, dole out their ad- 
vice in the Colonies by the dollar or the pristine : 
Dr. Lynch has no connexion, association, or" 
similitude with that class of beings of another 
profession, who run from the Grenadines or the 
Grenadillas, or some other obscure skulking 
corner of the Archipelago, and covering them- 
selves with a law cloak, yea, a lawyer's gown, 
clothed in the hypocritical mantle of true legal 
learning, vend their seditious and diabolical ora- 
cles to no other purpose but the diffusion of se- 
dition, discord, and disunion. He belongs not 
to the club of gabbling pensioners who infest 
the coffee houses and the billiard tables, and 
who, like the vermin that the naturalists tell us, 
burrow and breed in the skins of the larger and 
nobler animals, feel a sort of honor and conse- 
quence in proclaiming that they also find a name 
and a place in assisting to teaze and worry (for 
they can do no more) my respected friend Colo- 
nel Picton. Doctor Lynch is none of those : he 
is, what a physician should be, a man of correct 
moral conduct, of a strong natural and of a great 
cultivated understanding. And you, Mr. Sul- 
livan, told this gentleman, either before the Com- 
mission had sailed, according to Mr, Fullarron's 



07Q 



Look, or a very few days afterwards, " that G> 
d lonel Fullarton was instructed to investigate 
" tlie past conduct of Colonel Picton." Let 
me ask you, Mr. Sullivan, by wham was Mr. 
Fullarton so instructed} I have a right, Sir, to 
ask you this question ; and I do now, in the face 
of your country, call you to the bar of the Eng- 
lish nation, and I do demand of you as a matter 
of right, which you are bound as a gentleman 
and a man of honor to answer, I do say I have 
a right to demand of you, by whose authority 
was Mr.. Fullarton instructed or commissioned ? 
Was it my Lord Hobarfs, the then Colonial 
Secretary, and now Earl of Buckinghamshire ? 
His Lordship totally disavows it. See his letter 
to Colonel Picton of the date of July 19, 1802, 
only four months previous to your declaration. 
*J The first ofhcial notification I have received 
iC of any dissatisfaction at your Government 
" has hem from yourself, and I can only say, - 
iC that the zeal and ability you have uniformly 
" shewn in maintaining the tranquillity and se- 
" curity of the island, during the very critical 
i c period of your command, would alone call 
" upon me to receive any accounts of that kind 
" with the greatest circumspection." The Com- 
mander in Chief in the West Indies, General 
Grinfield, totally disavows it. He says, " His 



273 

11 fame will rise the higher for the unmerited 
iC persecution under which he now labors." 

(Signed) " W. Grtnfield, 

<£ Lieutenant General." 
« Barbadoes, Aug. 13, 1803." 

The then Premier, Lord Sidmouth, I know, 
has disavowed it utterly and in toto, and it 
would appear an unseemly insinuation of my 
want of confidence in that declaration, if I pre- 
sumed to remind his Lordship or the public of 
the particular language which announced that 
disavowal. I believe his Lordship was, and is 
perfectly sincere and unaltered in that state- 
ment. Where then are we to look for the au- 
thor of those instructions " to investigate the 
" conduct of Colonel Picton?" There is no 
doubt that Mr. Sullivan's threat, for at present 
I shall give it no other name, was realized, his 
conduct was investigated, and although Colonel 
Picton was " not ordered to return to England," 
as Mr. Fullarton has falsely asserted*, yet Colo- 



* General Grinfield, the Commander in Chief's words 
are, u You will therefore not hurry yourself either in com- 
" ing here, or in going to Europe, either of which is in 
*' your option, 

(Signed) " W. Grinfield.* 

" Barbadoes, June 13, 1803." 

T 



274- 

iiel-Picton did certainly leave Trinidad, to re* 
turn to England, in about sir months after Mr. 
Fullartons arrival there: I therefore say that 
the character of the British Nation, the honor 
of His Majesty's Government, the public service 
itself, and the safety of the individual who here- 
after devotes his service to it, are all equally 
connected and most deeply interested in this 
momentous question. I do therefore again call 
upon you, Mr. Sullivan, to come forward and 
to answer my question. In the name of the 
British Empire, in the name of the army that 
supports, serves, and sheds its blood for that 
Empire, in the name of every thing honorable, 
just, and fair, do I call upon you, John Sulli- 
van, Esq. to avow the author of those secret 
instructions. You must, Sir, now come forward, 
this business shall be no longer overlooked, or 
forgotten : While I live, and have a pen or a 
tongue, you shall not escape investigation or 
notice. I will take you from your hiding place, 
or your protection, be it where or who it may, 
and summon you as an officer and a gentleman 
to avow your author for those private instructions. 
The task I know is Herculean, but I will endea- 
vour to drag the Cacus from his den. It is in vain, 
Mr. Sullivan, to sophisticate about the business ; 
a disavowal on your side is totally and utterly im- 



•275 

possible, entirely incredible. You Sir, I am sa- 
tifled, will never think of it. Doctor Lynch, 
I state, is anxious and ardent to reassert and 
corroborate his affidavit at the bar of a British 
Court of Justice. Nothing therefore, but an 
open, manly, unqualified avowal of the author 
of those private instructions will satisfy the na- 
tion. I do not, Mr. Sullivan, mean, or insinu- 
ate any thing contrary to your honor or reputa- 
tion, when I say that the nation knows of your 
connexion with Mr. Fullarton in the East In- 
dies. It is asserted, Sir, that you were the chief 
cause of his being appointed to the Government 
or Commissionership of the island of Trinidad ; 
however, of this I do not pretend to be fully in- 
formed. That you had any hand in suggesting 
or in forming that unhappy and ill-fated Com- 
mission is very unlikely ; for giving you all cre- 
dit for abilities, Under Secretaries are, in general, 
not the persons consulted in those important 
measures. However Sir, ail these things apart, 
not to spin my web too fine, and that I may be 
at once understood, I assert, you have been, 
and were, the friend of Mr, Fullarton on the 
occasion. I do not blame you for this, Mr. 
Sullivan. I blame and accuse you, in the face 
of your country, and before that body of men, 
the root and source of whose honor and repu- 

t 2 



2/6 

tation yoa have attempted to undermine and 
destroy for ever, by secretly, insidiously, and 
without any just cause, presuming to circulate a 
report, for which you had iio right, or legiti- 
mate authority, no honest or honorable pretext 
for circulating or insinuating. This, Mr. Sulli- 
van, is my charge against you, and you will 
now clear yourself before God and your coun- 
try as well as you can. 

That you have acted upon this declaration, 
it is almost impossible for me even to know; 
I do not say you have, because I cannot prove 
it. But if you have really acted upon it, surely 
I am well entitled to say, " In what language 
" shall I address so black and cowardly a tf* 
" rant." I am well entitled to sav, and I do 
say to you, Mr. Sullivan, that if you have acted 
upon your declaration to Doctor Lynch, you 
are not only one of the most dangerous men in 
the kingdom, but that you add one to the list 
of the most disgraceful and atrocious qualities in 
the long and black catalogue of human vices, 
I mean, a dark and cowardly malignity ; and if 
you have not acted upon it, even then, Mr. Sul- 
livan, see the sum of your merits : you sought to 
ruin a man whom I believe you never saw, and 
who, I am sure, never offered you a slight or an 



^277 

injury, in thought, word, or deed. Now, Sir, 
make up your account, and address yourself; 
not to your fellow man, but to the just, mer- 
ciful and beneficent Being who sees, and through 
his omniscience permits, these wickednesses ; 
ask pardon of that Throne of Justice for an at- 
tempt which, if not nipped in its bud, will can- 
ker the life root, and eat away the cable that 
moors the vessel of confidence to the pier of the 
State. You, Mr. Sullivan, have sown the seed 
of discord, you have shot the sharp and barbed 
arrow of doubt and distrust, you have un- 
cloaked the stiletto, and endeavoured to plunge 
it to the heart of one of our bravest and most 
meritorious officers. Under a scorching sun, 
and in the most malignant climate, while every 
honest energy was awaked, and called forth to 
uphold the interest, and maintain the honor of 
the nation, you came behind an officer's back, 
and you smote him. I tell you, Mr. Sullivan, 
you dug a mine, not for yourself alone ; the 
blast was but partial ; Colonel Picton survives it. 
Long may he live to snatch the match from the 
coward hand of every coadjutor in this ini- 
quitous attempt, and to look down with con- 
tempt upon the base authors of his sufferings. 

I have done my part to Him; but, Mr. Sul- 



278 

livan, before I close, let me inform you, that I 
have not done with you. Whilst I have one 
pulse of honest ambition beating in my frame, I 
shall stand up for the British Army, for my Bre- 
thren and Companions in Arms, and not surfer 
the honest zeal, the broken down frame, the 
care-worn visage, of any officer, to be surprised, 
beset, and betrayed by you, Sir, or by any Un- 
der or Upper Secretary. The great and dange- 
rous opportunities which a man has in such a 
situation as you then filled, of doing incalculable 
mischief, and what is worse, of effecting this 
mischief without almost the possibility of detec- 
tion, should awaken a well-founded jealousy, and 
render a rigid scrutiny and severe investigation 
necessary into every act that has the least sem- 
blance of sinister view, or intention from such a 
quarter. What avails it to- the officer that the 
Government (properly so called) is just, virtu- 
ous, and generous? Of what signification even 
is the consideration of his august Sovereign and 
Master ? A trap is artfully laid : the plot is 
formed: the newspapers are plied.: paragraph 
succeeds paragraph : quarto follows quarto : 
every wicked engine is at its dirty work ; no 
stop, no pause ; and before any detection or ex- 
position of the infamous conspiracy can take 
place, reputation is in the dust; and when at 



279 

length the hour of developement does actually 
arrive, the worn down officer is prostrate, a 
bankrupt in fortune as well as character, and the 
Under Secretary remains still a pillar of the state ! ! 
But, Sir, the English nation has lately proved 
that no man is too great or too powerful to escape 
inquisition or impeachment. It will remain for 
the higher powers to decide whether your con- 
duct in this declaration was just, consistent, and 
conformable to the honor of your high situation. 
There is not an officer in. the service, from the 
lowest subaltern to the highest upwards, that is 
not deeply and vitally concerned in this declara- 
tion of yours to Dr. Lynch. I therefore, Sir, tell 
you, if it shall be found that you have acted on 
this declaration, Go, Sir, to Mr. Fullartoiu ■ Ye 
are fit society for each other. Work out your 
repentance in sackcloth and ashes. Seek an asy- 
lum where ye may indulge in mutual recrimina- 
tions, and no longer infect and poison the spring 
and salient fountain of generous British ardor : 
leave to the nation that adopted you both, its 
blessings and inheritance : do not presume to rob 
it of those magnanimous qualities that guard 
and adorn it : leave unimpaired, and for ever 
green, its confidence and its generosity : take 
back with you to your native seats, the sprigs 
of this noble tree, and atone for your enormities. 



by planting, watering, and protecting its infant 
weakness. Take this honorable charge upon 
yourselves, rf you can, and leave for ever a coun- 
try that nourished, fattened* protected and ho- 
nored you, but the benefits and blessings of 
which you have gratefully returned by an unge- 
nerous, and, I trust, an impotent attempt to 
degrade and disgrace it. 

My task is now finished ; and on reviewing it, 
I find nothing but of which an officer and a sren- 
tlemati may be proud of having done ; I there- 
fore say, feeling and understanding the force of 
the words, I have done my duty to my friend, 
to myself, and to the public. 

The pleasure and satisfaction I feel in having 
done it, are too strong for my own language to 
give full expression. My reader will therefore 
thank me for adopting the words of a man, 
whose forcible eloquence has often beautified the 
cause of truth, whose pen was never moved 
but in the cause of virtue and religion, and 
whose conduct and example in this respect arc 
lessons to the world, and a pattern for succeeding 
ages. He says, " When I am animated by this 
" thought, I look with pleasure on my book, 
" and deliver it to the world with the spirit of a 
M man that has endeavoured well." — " In this 
" work, when it shall be found that much is 



£81 

ic omitted, let it not be forgotten that much 
" likewise is performed ; and that though no 
" book was ever spared out of tenderness to its 
" author, (and the world is little solicitous to 
" know whence proceeded the faults of that 
<c which it condemns,) yet it may gratify curi- 
" osity to inform it, that this address was writ* 
" ten with no assistance of the learned, without 
ic any knowledge of the great, without any 
contribution from the gentlemen of the long robe, 
of any description or order ; amidst great incon- 
venience, and considerable obstruction from 
want of proper materials. 

I dismiss it, however, from my hands, not 
like that great and learned man, " with frigid 
" tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from 
" censure or from praise ;" but with eager hope^ 
with anxious expectation, with longing solici- 
tude, that it will become popular, that it will 
perform and accomplish the great ends for which 
it was intended, that it will, in the first place, 
contribute to rescue from the gripe of private 
malevolence and public obloquy, an eminent, 
meritorious, and accomplished officer; that it 
will tend, in the second place, to place in a just, 
fair, and proper point of view, that most unac- 
countably perverted, distorted, and misunder- 
stood subject of Louisa Calderon ; and above all, 

u 



282 

and paramount to every thing, that it will awake 
and call the attention of the nation, and of the 
Government, to a full and open investigation of 
a transaction, which, in point of the future dan- 
gers to the security of the country with which it 
is pregnant, in point of the individual ruin and 
destruction which it meditates and ensures against 
any man who may be the object of its malice ; 
in every point, place, situation, and circum- 
stance in which it can be -viewed, shakes alike 
public confidence and public honor; saps and 
undermines the foundation of all zealous public 
service, puts man in hostility to man, makes a 
traitor of the seeming friend of your bosom, ren- 
ders the whole nation a traitor ; permits no man 
to walk upright, suffocates his spirit, congeals, 
every generous faculty, and in my humble opin- 
ion tends manifestly to make this blessed land 
resemble more a nation of Turks than any other 
occurrence which could happen in Old Eng- 
land. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 



No. I. 

TITLE. 

IN THE YEAR 1301. 

Criminal Cause relative to the Theft of Two Thousand 
hard Dollars from Pedro Ruiz. 

Before the Judge of First Appointment, or Senior 
Justice. 

Notary, Castro. 

±N the Port of Spain, in the windward island of Trinidad, 
on the 22d day of December, in the year 1801, his Honor* 
Don Hilario de Begorrat, Common or Ordinary Judge 
by First Appointment thereof declared, That whereas, 
the 7th day of the present month, between six or seven 
o'clock in the evening, Pedro Ruiz appeared in the Court of 
the Government, complaining of having that instant been 
robbed of two thousand hard dollars in specie, the lock of 
one of his trunks having been broke open ; which trunk was 
deposited in the middle room of three apartments, held or 
possessed by him near the Marine and Government Parade, 
or square, and having, to effect the same, forced away oue of 
the planks of the side of the house towards the sea ; in con- 
sequence of which, his Excellency gave orders to secure the 



persons of Louisa Calderon, and her mother M a Calderon, 
domestics of the said Ruiz ; and also Carlos Gonzales-, and 
Pedro Iph Perez, partner of the said Ruiz ; which cause his 
Excellency has transmitted to his Honor the Judge; for the 
adjudication and termination of the same accordingly : he 
pronounced that he ought to give orders, and did give orders, 
to proceed to the summary examination of the witnesses that 
may be obtained, also of such persons who may know any 
thing relative to the cause in question, and especially the 
nearest neighbours to the said house ; and when accomplished 
in due and proper form, the said examinations to be filed, that 
decision may take place thereon conformable to justice. 
And whereas, by virtue hereof, his Honor thus pronounced 
and ordered, he also signed these presents ; all which I, the 
under-written Notary, attest. 

(Signed) Hil° de Begorrat. 

Before me Francisco de Castro. 

The depositions of thirteen different witnesses follow : — 

Deposition of Theresa Allen^ a free mulatta, next door 
neighbour to Pedro Ruiz, on oath: 

Joseph Rodriguez, on oath. 
Cyprian J l illa Itiueva, on oath, 
Josef a Maria, on oath. 
The Negro Topen, on oath. 
Joseph Arnaudy on oath. 

These six witnesses deposed that they saw Carlos Gonzales 
enter the house of Pedro Ruiz at a certain hour in the even- 
ing, and that he remained there a certain space of time, and 
then went away. 



Deposition of Honore Birot. 

Immediately afterwards the Judge in this cause,, attended 
by me the Notary, went to the house of Honore Birot, also 
with the interpreter j the said Birot being bed-ridden with the 
palsy ; to whom his Honor, by the means of the said inter- 
preter, and in the presence of me the Notary, administered 
the oath on God our Lord, and on a sign of the Cross, and 
thereon he promised to depose the truth to the best of his 
knowledge, with respect to whatever he might be interrogated ; 
and accordingly, on his being questioned relative to the tenor 
of the aforegoing act, the citations, and the other circum- 
stances, he deposed, that on the 7th day of the present month, 
being about the time of evening prayer, the deponent heard 
the passage door of the house A of Pedro Ruiz being opened ; 
and at about a quarter of an hour afterwards he heard blows, 
as of the breaking open a trunk, and that a short time, in like 
manner, he heard the iron bolt drawn ; that on the day fol- 
lowing he was acquainted, by Hilario Arnaud, that Carlos 
Oonzales was in custody for the said robbery ; and that this is 
all he knows, being forty-eight years old ; and the same was 
read over to him ; when he deposed that the same was truly 
expressed ; and he did not sign this deposition, not knowing 
how to write : the same was signed by his Honor, and by the 
interpreter; which I attest. 

( Signed) Be goer at. 
Before me Francisco de Castro. 

Carlos Te-llinean, Interpreter. 

Deposition of Nely, on oath. 

Jasper Diaz, on oath. 
Antonio Josef o, a free mulatto, on oath. 
Don Francisco Salazar, on oath. 
Negro, Pedro, on oath. 
Pedro Josef Perez (Partner in business with 
Pedro Ruiz,) interrogated on oath. 
a 2 



These six witnesses also deposed to nearly the same cir- 
cumstances as the six former. 

Deposition of Louisa Calderon. 

At the Port of Spain, on the 22d day of the same month 
and year, his Honor, the Judge of First Appointment, pro- 
ceeded to the prison wherein Louisa Calderon, a free mulatta, 
was confined, for the purpose of taking her deposition; to 
whom the said Judge, in the presence of me the Notary, 
administered the oath in due form, on God our Lord, and on 
a sign of the Cross ; and thereon she promised to depose the 
truth to the best of her knowledge, to whatever she might be 
interrogated ; and accordingly, being questioned respecting the 
contents of the aforegoing act, and the other circumstances 
that had occurred, with the intent to ascertain the truth rela- 
tive to the cause in question ; SHE FULLY DENIED 
KNOWING WHO WERE THE PERPETRA- 
TORS OF THE ROBBERY: in consequence thereof, 
his Honor ordered this deposition to be suspended till a more 
convenient opportunity ; and he signed hereto ; which I attest. 
(Signed) . Begorrat. 
Before me Francisco de Castro. 

In consequence of the strong suspicions % his Honor en- 
tertains of the mulatta Louisa Calderon, a domestic of Pedro 
Ruiz, concealing the truth re'Jajtive to the aforesaid robbery 
expressed in these proceedings ; and his Honor being per- 
suaded that she will discover the truth of the matter by means 
of a slight torment being inflicted on the said Calderon : And 
whereas his Honor is not invested with power to execute the 
same, his Excellency the Governor and Captain-General of 
this island must be made acquainted hereof, with the summary 



* These suspicions are detailed at full length at pages 70, 71, and 72, 
«*t the Address ; which vidcL 



of this process, by virtue of this document, to the intent that 
his Excellency may determine as may appear to him justice, 
the usual and requisite forms for that purpose to be adopted 
and observed by the Notary in this cause : and in pursuance 
hereof, his Honor thus decreed and ordered ; and he signed 
hereto ; which I, the underwritten Notary, attest this day, the 
22d of the aforesaid month and year. 

(Signed) Begorrat. 
Before me Francisco de Castro, 

Whereupon I, the said Notary, proceeded to the tribunal 
of the said Governor and Captain- General of this island, and 
the usual forms having been observed, I made known to his 
Excellency the aforegoing act, as also the summary in con- 
formity as decreed ; which I attest. 

(Signed) Castro. 

Apply the torture to Louisa Calderon. 

(Signed) Th. Picton. 

His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General of this 
island of Trinidad thus ordered ; and he signed the same on 
the 23d day of December, 1801. 

Before me Fran c * de Castro. 

Transmitted these proceedings to the Court of his Honor 
the Judge of First Appointment. 

(Signed) Castro. 

At the Port of Spain, in the windward islands of Trinidad, 
on the 23d day of December, 1801, his Honor the Ordinary 
Judge of First Appointment having seen this act of the 
cause in question, together with the order given by his Excel- 
lency the Governor and Captain-General of this island, by 
which he directs a slight torment to be inflicted^ for the pur- 



pose of investigating the truth relative to the robbery: 
he accordingly has decreed, and hereby orders, that the same 
shall be carried into execution in this same day, to obviate 
further delajs that may prejudice this cause: at the same 
time his Honor observed, that whereas the said Louisa 
Calderon did not appear to be twenty five years old, 
his Honor therefore reserves his intention of nominating 
for her a guardian or advocate. His Honor thus pronounced 
and ordered, and signed hereto ; which I attest. 
(Signed) Begorrat. 
Before me Francisco de Castro. 

Whereupon I, the Notary, in the presence of the said 
Judge, attending at the public prison, and in a room thereof, 
I made known the aforegoing order for the picket to Louisa 
Calderon ; who being made acquainted with the contents 
thereof, she said she did not know who had committed the 
robbery on Pedro Ruiz ; and she confirmed what she had 
before attested ; which I attest. Castro. 

The act of picketing follows : — 

When she confessed, that Carlos Gonzales^ with whom 
she once only had a carnal connexion, notwithstanding the 
intimacy with Pedro Ruiz ; that it was he that had 
stolen the money from the said Ruiz ; and this she knows 
from hating, been an eye-witness thereof; when she 
came a second time to the house of the said Pedro 
Ruiz, opened the door with the key she had, she lighted a 
candle, and having heard blows as if breaking open a trunk, 
she retired further back, put out the light, locked the door, 
and concealed herself in the passage close to where Carlos 
had moved the said trunk ; zchom she also sazv while he zoas 
taking out the sundry bags in zchich the money zoas contained, 
and which he carried off; that she does not know where the 
said Carlos had deposited said money ; that he has not given 



any portion thereof to her, neither did Carlos ever propose to 
her the said robbery ; and on being remanded, and questioned 
from what motive, when she saw Carlos committing the rob- 
bery, she did not cry out, nor lodge an information to a 
magistrate, she answered, that she did not know what she was 
to do, &c. 8cc. 

Second Examination, 
in which the Judge desired her to declare WHETHER SHE 
HAD NOT BEEN AN ACCESSARY with Carlos Gon- 
zales in committing the said robbery ; and also to confess 
where the said money was deposited ; she declared that she 
never had communicated, in any way whatever, with the said 
Carlos concerning the commission of the said robbery; neither 
did she know where the said money was deposited : whereupon 
the said Judge admonished her to relate the truth ; for should 
she not do it, she should be again placed on the picket. 

The second act of picketing follows : when his Honor 
perceiving that she was about to faint, he ordered the officers 
to loosen her, and to release her from the picket, &c. &c. 
(Signed) Begqrrat. 
Before me Francisco de Castro. 

Then follows the particulars of the confrontation of 
Louisa Caldeion with Carlos Gonzales, and both sworn : 
when Louisa repeated to Carlos that he was the person 
w ho had stolen the money from Pedro Ruiz, by breaking open 
the trunk, and carrying it off; and which the said Carlos 
knew was in the trunk that he broke open, from going one 
night to change some • money with Pedro for small silver, 
and which accordingly Pedro changed for him, Carlos being 
present when he, the said Pedro, opened the trunk ; to 
which Carlos replied, that the same was false testimony,, 
&c. &c. 

(Signed) Francisco de Castro, 



8 

Then follows an attestation of the Notary De Castro., that 
the houses of Carlos and Pedro Ruiz were both searched by 
his Honor the Judge., attended by Louisa and the officers of 
justice., &c. 

(Signed) De Castro. 

And another attestation, stating,, that Carlos had acknow- 
ledged, in the foregoing interviezv, that he had carnal know- 
ledge of Louisa, though he had formerly denied it on oath, 
&c. &c. &c. 

(Signed) De Castro. 

Then follows a petition from Don Pedro Joseph Perez, 
partner of Pedro Ruiz, to the Governor, who had been con- 
fined on suspicion, stating, that he was innocent of any share 
in the robbery, and offers bail to be enlarged ; and the decree 
of the Governor, which releases him on finding bail. 

December 26th, 1801, 

I have now extracted, from a copy of the process trans- 
mitted by the Court holden at the Council Chamber, in 
Port of Spain, (present his Excellency the Lieutenant 
Governor,) the heads of the legal measures pursued by 
the Governor, the Magistrate M. Begorrat, the Escrivano 
Notary De Castro, towards Louisa Calderon, from the 
period of the robbery, on the 7th day of December, to the 
conclusion of her punishment ; and the date of the petition 
of Pedro Ruiz's partner, praying to be liberated from gaol, 
on the 26th of said month. 

I shall now state the heads of the cruel processes which 
were carried on against the parties from this date to the day 
of the conclusion of the whole of the proceedings, on the 8th 
of November, 1802. The only object I have in view in this 
enumeration is, to prove that the reports of Louisa Calderon's 
being wantonly, unnecessarily, and cruelly detained in prison^ 



9 

are false and scandalous., and, as I have expressed myself at 
page 0'8 of this Address, " to determine with satisfaction 
tc another point which has been triumphantly pressed upon 
u as a substantial proof of the tyranny and oppression shewn, 
" by Colonel Pictm to this unhappy culprit" 

I find, that in this stage of the proceedings, the period of 
the duty of Alcalde of the First Election had expired ; and 
that the gentleman who succeeded Don Hilario Begorrat in 
this office was Don Josef Francisco Farfan, whose hrst act 
in this business was, an order for an attachment to be laid on 
the effects of the thief, Carlos Gonzales, and for placing the 
same in deposit in the custody of a person whom he ap- 
pointed a depositary for the purpose ; his wife, and another 
person named in the process, were sworn to deliver a faithful 
account of his effects, and to be at all times forthcoming at 
the orders of the Judge. 

January 2, 1802. 

The Judge proceeds to take the depositions of different 
witnesses, as to the character and conduct of Carlos Gon- 
zales. 

January 15, 1802. 

Depositions of Juan de la Rosa, Julian Fanabria, and 
Martin Gabriel, all arraign the character of Carlos Gon- 
zales. 

Examination of Gonzales. 

Tebmiaru 11, 1802. 

Deposition of Nicholas Yriarrte to impeach the character 
of Gonzales. 

Examination of Gonzales and Louisa Calderon, face to 
face ; in which she tells him positively that she saw him break 
the trunks and take the money : and he denies every thing. 

Carlos Gonzales petitions to be released from prison, on 
finding competent security. 



10 

The Judge orders Gonzales and Louisa Calderon to be 
brought before him,, and taken to the house of Pedro Ruiz; 
his Honor attending to inspect the place minutely where the 
robbery was committed. 

The Judge visits the prison, and orders an additional pair 
of irons on Gonzales and Louisa. 

Carlos's wife petitions that a physician may be sent to her 
husband on account of sickness which he had contracted from 
"being so long in prison \ this was on the 1 7th day of 
February ; and to order his release if his bad health is certU 
tied. 

February 16, 1802. 

Dr. Williams visits him, and declares on oath, that Carlos 
has a slight indisposition, which proceeds, in his opinion, more 
from the uneasiness of his mind, by reason of his confinement, 
than any infirmity of body. 

Louisa is ordered to name her guardian, or advocate, 
being a minor or not twenty-five years of age, to conduct her 
defence, or in default thereof one will be appointed for her ; 
and after this is done, she must confirm all the acts and depo- 
sitions hitherto made by her. On the notification of this 
to her she says, that she applied to four different persons, who 
refused. 

His Honor appoints Don Juan Bermudez as advocate and 
defender of Louisa. 

Petition from Pedro Ruiz, praying that the depositions 
of certain persons named, may be taken relative to the rob-' 
bery. 

Notice of cause being suspended till the 8th of March, on 
account of the absence of the* advocate Don Juan Bermudez, 
who had been in another quarter of the island. 

March 9, 1802, three Months from the first Bay of 

Imprisonment. 
Don Bermudez is sworn to defend his minor Louisa 



11 

by every effort, both in judicature and thereout ; and that he 
would pursue the advice and counsel of persons of knowledge^ 
conscience, and experience, who may point out to him the 
best means to defend his minor ; and if, through any neglect 
on his side, there should result any damage or prejudice to 
his said minor, he shall make good the same w ith his person 
and effects both present and future ; and he thus bound him- 
self ; and he became liable to be fined to the utmost rigor of 
the laws, rights, and privileges, that otherwise might operate 
in his favor. 

The Judge, upon his oath, confers the charge of advocate 
upon Don Bermudez, and gives him full powers to act as such. 
■ — Decrees that charge and intimation be given to Carlos and 
Louisa, and a copy, that they may defend themselves as they 
can within twenty common days. — With various other orders 
for witnesses, depositions, &c. &c. &c. 

April 1, 1802. 

Don Pedro Josef Perez, a witness, cited, and confirms his 
former deposition on oath. 

Don Francisco de Salazar, Juan de la Rosa, Cyprian 
Villa de Nueva, and Theresa Allen, cited, and confirm their 
several former depositions on oath. 

April 3, 1802. 
The Negro Topen cited, confirms his former deposition on 
oath. 

April o, 1802. 

The Negro Pedro cited, (slave of Pedro Ruiz,) confirms 
his former deposition on oath. 

April 6, 1802. 

Josef Rodiguez cited, confirms his former deposition on 
oath. 

Juana Talavefa, wife of Carlos, petitions that 200 dollars 



m 

may be granted her, out of the property of her husband put 
under attachment, in order to support herself and family, 
being in great distress. 

April 11, 1802 {supposed 7.) 
Judge decrees 150 dollars to be given to her out of that 
property, she giving her receipt for it. 

April 8, 1802. 

Josefa Maria cited, confirms on oath her' former deposi- 
tion. 

Honore Verat cited, confirms her former deposition. 

Honore Verat again cited, and deposes on oath, that as to 
the depositions of Josef Arnaud, a witness who was cited on 
this occasion at a former time, and who is now absent, and 
which he is now made acquainted with, that the said Arnaud 
is a good Christian, and a man of good character ; and he, 
the witness, vouches for him, and believes and considers 
as true the whole contents of his aforesaid deposition. 

Gaspar Bias cited, and confirms on oath his former deposi- 
tion. 

Nely, a negro woman, cited, and confirms her former de- 
position on oath. 

Antonio Josef, a free mulatto, cited, and confirms his 
former deposition on oath. ' , 

April 9. 

Julian Sanabria cited, and confirms on oath his former de- 
position. 

Martin Gabriel cited, and confirms on oath his former de^ 
position. 

Nicolas Yriarrte cited, and confirms his former deposition 

on oath. 

April ZX, 1802. 

Don Juan Antonio Cypriani ciied ; and states, that he had 



13 

heard it said by Don Lorenzo Placet, that he suspected 
having been robbed of sundry goods by Carlos Gonzales, 
who lived contiguous to his warehouse. 

Don Antonio Sertin cited, and swears, that he does not 
recollect, nor can he assert, that Don Lorenzo Placet ever 
uttered these expressions. 

May 19. 

Then comes the Plea or Defence of Louisa Calderon by 
Don Juan Bermudas, her Advocate and Guardian. 
Bermudas cites Elizonda in her defence, also ic Ecclesi- 
astical Court, or Code of Laws ;" acknowledges she was 
fourteen years of age ; (this says that Louisa has been con- 
fined for six months, but it has no date ;) and says, he has no 
ocular witnesses to produce for greater justification ; and 
refers entirely to what he has mentioned in his defence of 
her. 

Don Diego Antonio de Alcala, Carlos's attorney, appears 
in Court, and requests that his Honor will order the publica- 
tion of the evidence, and that declaration may be legally made 
of the proceedings to the parties, in order to allege their 
defence. 

The Judge decreed this. 

June 1. 

Don Juan Bermudas declares, that he rests his defence on 
the memorial already delivered by him. 

June 1(5. 
Don Pedro Ruiz appears, and says, that he has no further 
evidence to bring forward in his cause; and supplicates 
the Judge to, pronounce sentence with the general con- 
sent of the parties ; publication is to be made of the evi- 
dence brought forward by them respectively, and regular 
delivery of the process must be made, in order that they may 



n 

allege respectively in their own behalf as may he deemed just. 
Mr. Black, Alcalde of the Second Election, signs this. 

June 25. 

Don Juan Bermudas, the Advocate for Louisa Calderon,, 
appears in his Honor's Court, and declares that he has nothing 
further to allege on the behalf of his client, and refers to her 
memorial for every thing. 

Then come evidences on behalf of Carlos Gonzales ; and 
interrogatories are stated whereon to ground the evidence 
brought forward on the behalf of Carlos Gonzales ; thirteen 
questions are put to these witnesses, which are stated at 
length, and signed by the wife of Carlos Gonzales, 

JUANA TaLAVERA. 

Representation on each of the interrogatories before the 
Judge Black, by Carlos Gonzales ; and signed by his wife, 
Juana Talavera, praying that the examinations of witnesses 
may be taken, and that Ruiz may be obliged to swear whether 
he did not come to Carlos, some two or three months previous 
to the robbery, to borrow 200 dollars, saying that he was 
very poor, and other requests, as to be set at liberty on giving 
bail, &c. 

Decree of the Alcalde (Farfan) on part of this petition. 

Reference of notice of another part to Pedro Ruiz. 

Examinations of Pedro Ruiz on the aforesaid. 

June 26. 

Examination of witnesses in favor of Carlos Gonzales. 

Don Lucas Macely replies on oath to all the thirteen inter- 
rogatories, put separately and distinctly. 

Juan Domingo Antonio replies on oath to the thirteen in- 
terrogatories, separately and distinctly. 

Don Josef Barthelier replies on oath to the thirteen interro- 
gatories as above. 



15 

Raphael Mates deposes on oath to thirteen interrogatories 
as above. 

June 27. 

Juan Santiago Jacome deposes on oath to the thirteen in- 
terrogatories as above. 

Bartholoman Garcia deposes on oath to the thirteen inter- 
rogatories as above. 

Don Geronimo Bermazas deposes on oath to the thirteen 
interrogatories. 

Francisco Antonio deposes as above. 

A power of attorney from Carlos and his wife to the Attor- 
ney and Escrivano to act for them in every thing relating to 

this cause. 

June 28. 

Don Diego de Alcala presents a petition,, requesting the 
Judge to extend the time of twenty days more, to enable him 
to produce the evidence. 

The Judge grants or decrees twelve current days more, 
with positive denial of any further extension. 

(Signed) Black. 

A memorial of Diego Antonio de Alcala to call for other 
persons on certain matters relating to said proofs. 
Granted and decreed by the Judge. 

June 29. 

Deposition of Francisco Febles as to the tenor and terms 
of said memorial. 

Maria Calderon deposes as to said memorial. 

Benancia, a mulatto, deposes to said memorial. 

Catalena Viga deposes on oath to said memorial. 

Concepcion Caledonia deposes on oath to said memorial. 

Louisa Calderon deposes on oath to the said memorial. 

Pedro Josef Perez deposed to the contents of the said me- 
morial. 



16 

June 30. 

Diego Antonio de Alcala presents a memorial to get leave 
to reply to the evidence, by calling more witnesses. 
Granted by the Judge Farfan* 

July * 

Domingo Rodriguez deposes as to the said memorial oh 
oath. 

July 4 & 5. 

Don Diego Antonio de Alcala, Carlos 's attorney, memo-* 
rials the Judge that the merits of this case being made up 
and prepared for definitive sentence, his Honor ought to 
declare the accusation of Pedro Ruiz to be unfounded and 
malicious ; and that he ought to declare him an impostor, 
and condemn him in pains and penalties of the law. 
He declares his client innocent, and goes into an examina- 
tion of the witnesses : he urges a variety of ingenious argu- 
ments to prove that the robbery was merely fictitious, and 
requests his Honor to decree as above. 

July 6, 1802. 
The Judge orders that the said cause must be trans- 
mitted to the Governor by the Notary with all due forms 
usual and customary. 

Farfan. 
July 18. 
Don Diego Antonio de Alcala, by a memorial, solicits 
the appearance of Domingo Rodriguez, and of Pedro Perez, 
to declare some evidence particularised. 
Decreed by the Judge. 

There being first duly observed the usual forms and solem- 
nities, I delivered into the hands of his Excellency the 
Governor those proceedings, in pursuance of the decree; 
which I attest. 

Castro. 



17 

Governor's Decree, August 3. 
Duly considered and examined these proceedings, it is 
hereby declared, that the robbery was committed by Carlos 
Gonzales, according to the evidence, aud other circum- 
stances expressed in the cause ; and in consequence thereof, 
inclining to equity and mercy, he is hereby condemned 
to perpetual banishment from this island, to a fine of 
1800 dollars, to pay all the costs of this process, and to 
labor on the public works till the term of this his sentence x 
shall be fulfilled ; which said fine shall be applied to indem- 
nify the said Pedro Ruiz, and the mulatta Louisa Calderon 
shall be set at liberty, and considered to have expiated the 
offence hy the long imprisonment she has suffered. 

(Signed) Thos. Picton. 

Then follows a taxation of costs. 

Carlos Gonzales petitions the Governor to remove to his 
own dwelling-house; wherein he promises that his con- 
finement shall be as strictly observed as if he were in prison, 
Vmtil the moment of his departure from the island, and for an 
authentic copy of the acts. He offers also the legal security 
for close confinement, and proposes a bondsman. 

The Governor decrees that the decree must be put m 
force. 

(Signed) T. Picton. 

August 5, 1802. 

Carlos Gonzales petitions the Governor, that if there is 
enough of money in the depositary's hands to pay the fine and 
costs, that he may be set at liberty to depart the island with all 
possible dispatch. 

Governor decrees, the High Constable shall conduct him 
to the beach, or quay, when his embarkation takes place, for 
him to pursue his destination. 

Th. Picton. 
h 



18 

All cr list 8. 

o 

Carlos delivered to the master of a brig, and a receipt 
passed for him. 

Carlos's wife petitions the Governor that the depositary 
may give an account of all the remaining effects in his hands, 

Sac. feci, 

As requested. Th. Picton. 

Other petitions and requests follow from Carlos's wife to 
■the Governor ; which are granted. 

Pietry, the depositary, in settling all the accounts which 
are put forth at full length in the process, petitions, on paying 
in the balance, to be exonerated and released from all respon- 
sibility. 

Granted. Thomas Picton. 

Carlos's wife petitions the Governor against the charges of 
repairing the boat against Pietry. 

Their Honors the Judges to decide thereon. 

T. Picton. 

September 13, 1802. 
Don Pedro Ruiz petitions the Governor that the money 
awarded him should be paid immediately, as then in great 
distress. 

As requested. T. Picton. 

September 16. 

Pedro petitions the ordinary Judge that he should be paid 
immediately. 

The Judge decrees that the decree of the Governor must 
be enforced, and the money paid within three days, under pain 
of execution. 



19 

Pedro again petitions the Governor that sentence and 
judgment may be pronounced against Pietry, unless he im- 
mediately pay the amount of his claim. 

As requested. J. Picton. 

September 28. 

Don Miguel Pietry petitions the Judge to direct that Car- 
los's property may be put up to auction, and sold to the high- 
est bidder ; and should the effects be not sufficient to discharge 
this debt, he will make good the deficiency. 

As requested. J. Black. 

October 24. 

Don Miguel Pietry appears in Court, and pays to Pedro 
Ruiz 1800 hard dollars. 

Pedro acknowledges himself paid to his satisfaction. 

Carlos's wife petitions the Judge on account of some other 
claims she has ; which are directed to be investigated by wit- 
nesses. 

The examination detailed. 

November 9, 1802/ 
Judge's decree on this point. 

Some other unimportant petitions and decrees follow : 
the last is dated NOVEMBER 18, 1802. 

John Black. 

AND THUS THE PROCESS CLOSES, AFTER 
AN INVESTIGATION OF ONE YEAR ALL TO 
EIGHTEEN DAYS. 



b £ 



20 



No. II. 

Instructions* to our Trusty and Well-beloved Thomas Pic* 
ton, Esquire, our Governor and Commander in Chief 
in and over our Island of Trinidad. Given at our Court 
at Saint James's, the first day of June, 180 i, in the 
forty-first Year of our Reign. 

I. WITH these our Instructions you will receive our 
Commission, under our Great Seal of our United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland, constituting you our Gover- 
nor, and Commander in Chief, in and over our island of 
Trinidad. In the execution therefore of our said commis- 
sion, you are to take upon you the administration of the 
government of the said island, and to do and execute all 
things belonging to your command, according to the several 
powers and authorities of our said commission, under our 
Great Seal of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland, and of these our instructions to you, and according 
to such further powers and instructions as you shall at any 
time hereafter receive under our signet and sign manual, or 
by our order in our Privy Council. 

II. And you are, as soon as convenient, to choose from 
amongst the proprietors of the said island a Council, consist- 
ing of not more than five, nor less than three persons, who 
may be able to assist you in all the details of administration 
and police within your said government. And you are hereby 
required jto consult and advise with the said council ; and in 
cases of importance, and where you shall judge that our in- 
terests may require it, you are hereby authorized to act con- 
trary to their opinion, calling upon them in such cases to 

* Many parts of these instructions being unnecessary to any purposes 
of' Lay address, I have inserted only all such parts as have any relevance^ 



si 

state their opinions in writing, with their reasons for ths 
same; and ou are to transmit to me, through one of our 
principal Secretaries of State, the opinions of your said 
Council, together with your own opinion, and your and their 
reasons on every such occasion, for our information ; and you 
are further authorized from time to time to remove the memo 
bers of your said Council, or any of them so to be chosen 
by you as aforesaid, in case you shall find it necessary for 
our interests, and the public service of the island, and to 
choose others in their room, taking care nevertheless to as- 
sign and transmit your reasons for so doing, by the next im- 
mediate opportunity, to one of our principal Secretaries of 
State for our information, 

V. It is our will and pleasure, that for the present, the 
temporary administration of the island should, AS NEAR- 
LY AS CIRCUMSTANCES WILL PERMIT, be 
exercised by you according to the terms of the capitulation 
hereunto annexed, in conformity to the ancient laws and in-, 
stitutions that subsisted within the same, previous to the sur- 
render of the said island to us, subject to such directions as 
you shall now, or hereafter, receive from us, under our signet 
or sign manual, or by our order in our Privy Council, or to 
such sudden and unforeseen emergencies as may render a 
departure therefrom absolutely necessary and unavoidable, 
and which you are immediately to represent to one of our 
principal Secretaries of State, for our information : But it is 
nevertheless our special command, that all the powers of the 
executive Government within the said island, as well civil as 
military* shall be vested solely in you, our Governor, or in 
the person having the government of the said island for the 
time being, and that such powers as were heretofore exercised 
by any person or persons separately^ or in conjunction with 
the Governor of the said island, shall belong solely to yon 
our Governor, or to the person having the government of 
{he said island for the time being* And it is our will a^idfc 



pleasure that all such public acts and judicial proceedings., 
which before the surrender of the said island to us, were in 
the name of His Catholic Majesty, shall henceforth be done, 
issued, and performed, in our name. 

VII. It is our will and pleasure, that for the present, and 
until our further pleasure shall be signified therein, the same 
courts of judicature, which subsisted in the said island pre- " 
vious to the surrender thereof to us, shall, for the present, be 
continued in the exercise of all the judicial powers belonging 
to them, in all criminal and civil cases, and that they shall 
proceed according to the laws by which the said island was 
then governed, and that such judicial powers, as, previous to 
the surrender of the said island to us, were exercised by the 
Spanish Governor, shall be exercised by you our Governor, 
in like manner as the same were exercised previous to the sur- 
render of the said island. 

, XI. And whereas you will receive from our Commission- 
ers for executing the office of High Admiral of Great Bri- 
tain, a commission, constituting you Vice Admiral of the 
said island, you are required and directed carefully to put 
into execution the several powers thereby granted to you. 

XII. You are hereby particularly authorized and required, 
for the better security of the said island, and for the mainte- 
nance of good order within the same, to raise such troops 
therein, and to call out and embody such companies or 
corps of militia, as you shall judge necessary for that purpose. 
With the same view of maintaining order and good govern- 
ment, you are also authorized to disarm such of the inha- 
bitants of the said island as are not employed in any mili- 
tary capacity, or have not your licence for keeping their 
arms, and during the present war, to remove from the said 
island such persons as you shall see cause to suspect of ad- 
hering to our enemies, and the continuance of whose residence 
in the said island may be found to be dangerous to the peace 
and security thereof 



23 



No. IIL 

State of the Colony at the time of the capture by Sir II. 

Abercromby, K. B. } as taken from the depositions on 

Oath, of the following Gentlemen, before the Court, at 

Port of Spain. 

Present, 

His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor. 

Vincent Patrice, Esq. on Oath. 

Q. How long have you been resident in the island? — A. 
Eighteen years, during fourteen of which I have been em- 
ployed in the service of Government. 

Q. What was the state of the colony at the period of its 
capture? — A. When Captain Vaughan, of the Alarm frigate 
came here, the people broke open the magazine of arms, 
and armed themselves contrary to the orders of government, 
for many days, and when tranquility was re-established, a 
large quantity of these arms remained in the possession of 
the people of color ; that their whole race was in a state of 
insubordination when the colony was captured. 
Chevalier de Games. 

Q. How long have you been resident in the colony? — A. 
Since the year 1793. When I arrived in the colony there 
were a number of bad subjects in it, and it was threatened 
with a general subversion of good order. 
Lazare Achard, Esq. 

Q. How long have you been resident in this eolony? — A* 
Eighteen years. 

Q. Did you know B. General Picton, and what was his 
general character as Governor of this island? — A. I knew B. 
General Picton as a just man, and of integrity, and shall al- 
ways owe him an eternal gratitude, .for having preserved my 
life and fortune by his courage, activity, and abilities, ill 
times nchen we were threatened with fire, and the malevolence 



24 

of the negroes, and other vagabonds, who only waited for a 
favorable moment to cut our throats. 
The Honorable John Nihell, Esq. Member of His Majes- 
ty's Council, and Judge of the Court of Consulado, fyc. 

Q. How long have you resided in this colony? — A, Be- 
tween nineteen and twenty years. 

Q. What was the situation, political and civil, of this 
island, previous to the conquest of it? — A. For several 
months, and even years, immediately preceding the conquest, 
the English, and other good people of the colony, considered 
themselves in constant danger of assassination, of being guil- 
lotined. / 

Q. Was not yourself shot at, and nearly murdered in the 
street? — A. I certainly was, on the 18th of May, 1796, in 
company of several respectable inhabitants, while in the 
actual exercise of magisterial duties, I being then Alcalde of 
the second election. A negro was mortally shot near me„ 
another was wounded, and a relation of mine, who stood 
close to me, received a ball in the skirts of his coat. 

Q. Were the perpetrators of these outrages apprehended 
and punished by the Spanish Government? — A. They cer- 
tainly were not; but this preceded from their immense num- 
bers in the colony, and the trilling force which the govern- 
ment had for its protection. 

Q. Do you mean to say then that there existed in tins co- 
lony a considerable faction which overawed it? — A. I cer-s 
tainly mean to say so, and that faction was so very consider- 
able, and so powerful, that Mr. Chacon, after the island 
was taken, often assured me that peace and quietness could 
not be preserved in the colony with a garrison of fewer men 
than 3000 regular British troops. Colonel Picton's effective 
force at that time was 4Q8. 

Q. Were not the French very numerous, and the then re- 
volutionary principles of France very strong among all co- 
lors and classes in the colony?— A, Most certainly. 



85 

Q. Did not B. General Pic ton preserve order and tran- 
quility in the colony, after the capture? — A. He certainlj 
did. 

Q. To what do you ascribe it?— -A t To the firmness of 
his government, and his apparent determination to suffer no 
such principles to remain in the colony; in consequence of 
which, in a very short time, the principal leaders of the fac- 
tion before described, disappeared, and the others of the 
party remained quiet and peaceable. 

Q. To what do you ascribe the present flourishing situa- 
tion of this colony ?-r— A. J certainly ascribe it to the firmness 
and uniform conduct of General Picton, in giving ample pro? 
teetion to all good and peaceable subjects, and driving from 
it all of a contrary character, 

Nicholas St. Pe v , on Oath, 

Q. How long have you been resident in tins colony?— A- 
Twenty-eight years, and upwards. 

Q. Had you any public employment during the Spanish 
government? — A. I was regidor in 1784; in 1787 I was Al- 
calde de Barrio, the two following years, and Commandant 
of the Quarter of La Brea afterwards, 

Q. What was the political situation of the colony, and the 
sjtate of its interior po]ice at the time of the conquest? — A- 
The political state of the colony was very afflicting ; the po- 
lice was inefficient, though it had been very good some time 
before. It was very dangerous at the time of the conquest, 
to do any acts of severity in police, because the government 
did not think it had sufficient force to repress disorders, and 
when complaints were made of any aggravating nature, the 
government persuaded them to patience. The .cause of this 
was, a numerous population, consisting of various characters 
<)f different opinions, and the bad doctrines which had been 
adopted here among the free and enslaved, aud among some 
•^/hites also. 

•Q. J)id not f}agranjt crimes pass with impufiHy ? — A. WBef| 



£8 

I first became resident in the town, until 1789, there were 
many assassinations, some were punished, and some .were 
not. Masters were murdered by their slaves, and whites 
who had assassinated whites ; since then, until the capture of 
the island, I remained on my own estate. 

The Honorable Philip Langton, Esq. Alcalde of the 
First Election. 

Q. How long have you been resident in this colony ? — A. 
About eighteen years. 

Q. Had you any public employment in this colony, under 
the Spanish government? — A. I was perpetual Alcalde, Pro- 
vincial Mayor, by commission from His Catholic Majesty, 
since about the year ] 790, and Commandant of the Quarter 
of Naparima at the time of the capture of the island ; I was 
also Regidor of the Cabildo, 

Q. Are you not a proprietor of a sugar estate in this island, 
and was you not so at the conquest of the island?— A. I am, 
and have been so thirteen or fourteen years. 

.Q. What was the political situation of the island, and 
what the state of its interior police at the time of the con-* 
quest?- — A. Anarchy and confusion .: and, I believe, consider- 
ed by all well disposed people, as on the brink of ruin, for 
want of energy in the government. The Spanish Governor 
declared to me, shortly after the conquest, that it was impossi- 
ble for the British Governor to keep the island in subjection, 
«md- prevent it undergoing the same fate as the other colonies, 
without a powerful force either of 3 or 4000 men. 

Q. Did the colony bear any, and what different aspect, on 
B. General Picton's taking the command? — A. A great al- 
teration for the better ; public tranquility, and public confi- 
dence was restored, and both agriculture and commerce 
iiburished to a degree unprecedented in this colony. 

Q. Do you not attribute the flourishing aspect of the colony 
as much to the English industry, as to the government and 
exertions of B. General Picton? — A. I think the introdue- 



lion of English capital, joined to the exertion and activity of 
B. General Picton, was the cause of it. 

The Honorable St. Hilaire Begorrat, Member of His 
Majesty's Council. 

Q. How long have you resided in Trinidad? — A. Since 
April 1784, twenty-one years. 

Q. What was the political state of the colony immediately 
preceding the conquest of it by Great Britain? — A. A state 
of anarchy and confusion, every day threatened by conspiracy : 
two grand conspiracies were discovered a little time . before 
the conquest of the island, one of Naparima, agitated by a 
free negro, called Bernard Cloze, and the plan was to be- 
gin by burning and destroying the plantations, and assassin- 
ating the proprietors, of which there is a legal proceeding ia 
the office of Castro, against the offenders ; the other at the 
Carenage, discovered by the Commandant of the Quarter, 
Mr. Noel, and connected with some people in Port of Spain, 
and the proceedings against the offenders are also in Castro's 
office. 

Q. Were not murders, assassinations, rapes, and robbe- 
ries, frequently committed in the island at that time?— A. 
Yes, and with impunity. 



No. IV. 

Treatment of 'Louisa Galderon in Jail, from the Depositions, 

on Oath, before the Court holden at Port of Spain, 

Present, 

His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor. 

De Castro, the Escrivano, on Oath. 

Q. Was Louisa Calderon put in stocks before, or between 

the examinations? — A. No, I do not remember. 

Q. During the whole time of her imprisonment, was she 
confined in irons, or at any time during her imprisonment? 



2$ 

—A. I am not sure, but believe, that during the latter pe* 
riod of her imprisonment the grillo was taken off. 

Q. By the Court. What is the nature of the grillo you 
mentioned? describe it? — A. It was a bar of iron, that past 
through a post, and the ring of the iron was put round her 

kg- 

Q. Was the picket on which Louisa Calderon was placed \ 
an iron spike, or a sharp zvooden one?— A. A wooden one t 
not pointed. 

Q. Was it round or square on the top, and what was the 
diameter of the top? — A. It was round, without point, and 
about an inch in diameter on the top. 

Q. W T ere her feet or her hands torn, or made bloody by 
the said operation ? — A. No. 

Q. Was any surgeon or other medical man called for, by 
her, or others^ or was their attendance made necessary by 
her being so put on the picket? — A. No. 

Q. You have said that she fainted after either the first or 
the second time of her being put on the picket; did such 
fainting appear to you to be real or affected ?— A. By the 
way that she conducted herself during the whole of the pro- 
ceedings, it may be that there was some affectation in her 
fainting, but I cannot say certainly. 

Q. Did not Mr. Begorrat, theattending Judge, on the ap- 
pearance of her fainting, iimiiee|iately order her to be taken 
down? — A. Yes, and gave her some wine and water with his 
own hands, and she innnediately recovered* 

Q. When I^ouisa Calderon went to Pedro RmYs h,ouse 
after being picketed, did she walk, or was she carried ? — A* 
She walked. 

Q. What is the distance of the prison to Pedro Ruiz's, 
house? — A. Three cross streets, I believe. 

Q. Did Louisa Calderon walk, or was she carried back te, 
the prisou? — A. She walked. 






29 

Jean Baptisto Fallot, Gaoler, on Oath; 

V Q. Were you not gaoler in this island, in the year of our 
Lord 1801?— A* Yes. 

Q. Was Louisa Calderon committed to. your custody iii 
that year,, and by whom and for what crime? — A. Yes, by 
General Picton, on a charge- of being an accomplice in a 
robbery. 

Q. Bid she, at either of those times, appear to suffer great 
bodily pain, or utter loud cries or lamentations? — A. She did 
not appear to suffer much; on the contrary, she appeared to 
be resolved to bear any thing. She did not utter loud cries; 
on the contrary, 1 was surprised at her being so resolute* 

Q. What instrument was that picket?— A. It is a bit of 
Wood squared, about an inch in diameter. 

Q. Did she require a surgeon or medical assistance after 
being taken down? — A. No. 

Q. Did you see any symptoms of inflammation, or did she 
complain of fever? — A. No. 

Q. Were her hands, arms, or feet, torn or lacerated by 
the punishment? — A. No, not at all. She made no com- 
plaint whatever. 

Q. After the picket, do you recollect her going to Pedro 
Ruiz's house with the Alcalde, Mr. Begorrat? — A. I did 
not go with her ; and I do not recollect whether it was be- 
fore or after the picket that she was taken to Pedro Ruiz's 
house. 

Q. Was Louisa Calderon treated like other prisoners con- 
fined on similar charges? — A. She was treated better than 
any other prisoners : I never received any orders to treat her 
rigorously. 

Q. In what kind of a room was she confined ? Describe 
it. — A, She was in a large room, the whole length of the 
gaol, over the prison. 

Q. Was it a comfortable lodging for a prisoner ? — A. It rms 
a place appropriated to white people; the best in the prison. 



31 

Q. What was her food and nourishment in gaol? — A. She 
was served from my own table. I received orders to give 
her more than the usual allowance : she even had coffee in the 
morning. 

Q. Had her relations access to her, and did they give her 
any comforts during her confinement? — A. Before 'her de- 
claration was taken, her relations brought her things, which 
I gave her. They had afterwards free access to her* 

Q. Did you ever refuse permission to administer her any 
comfort?— A. No, never; on the contrary, her sister came 
every day with sweetmeats and tobacco for her. 

Q. Had you ever any communication, directly or indirect- 
ly,, with Brigadier General Picton, respecting the prisoner, 
Louisa Calderon, after her first commitment ? — A. General 
Picton never spoke to me about her, nor did I ever receive 
any order from him about her. 

Q. Of what age did Louisa Calderon appear to you? — A. 
I always thought, from her appearance, that she was seven- 
teen or eighteen years at least. 

Q. As gaoler, were you not keeper of the galley slaves? 
—A. Yes, I was superintendant of them. 

Q. What were the defendants general orders to you, re- 
specting the treatment of all prisoners in the gaol? — A. To 
feed them well. They had an eighth more bread than His 
Majesty's soldiers, and rum every day. 

Q. What was the state of Louisa Galcieron's health while 
in gaol, and when she quitted it? — A. I never saw her sick, 
and she never Complained. 

Q. Was she visited by any medical man during her con- 
finement? — A. Not to my knowledge. 

Q. Do you conceive that Louisa Calderon suffered at all, 
while on the picket? — A. Yes; but she made no cries: she 
had the appearance of being very absolute. 

Q. Do you attribute her silence to her wonderful resolu- 
tion, or to the tortures not being applied with severity? — -A. 



so 

I do not know whether it was applied with severity or 
not. v 

Q. Do you mean to swear that, that Louisa Calderon did 
not cry out at all?— A. Yes. ' , 

Q. Neither the first nor the second time? — A. I did not 
hear her cry out at all. 

Q. Was you present during the whole time of her being 
picketed? — A. I went once below; but was not absent three 
minutes. 

Q. On what ground did you swear that she did not require 
medical assistance ? — A. Because she made no complaint of 
illness. 

Q. Did you examine her feet ? — A. I never saw her feet 
swelled, and therefore did not examine them. 

Q. Was she never in solitary confinement in a cell or 
otherwise? — A. She never was confined in any cell: she 
was confined alone in the apartment I before mentioned. 

Q. Was she not confined in irons during a large portion 
of the time? — A. She had one iron on one leg. 

Q. What is the grillo?— A. It is, a ring fastened to along- 
iron fastened by a padlock. 

Q. Did Louisa Calderon appear to be in perfect health 
during the whole period of her confinement? — A. Yes. 

Q. Not at all lamed or injured, either by the picketing or 
iron? — A. No. 

Q. Was there any room in the old gaol of the whole length 
of the gaol? — A. Yes; the one in which Louisa Calderon 
was confined. 

Q. Why was Louisa Calderon treated better than the other 
prisoners in your charge? — A. Pedro Ruiz desired me to 
give her something more than the ordinary allowance of the 
prison, though he was not satisfied with her conduct, and 
not to mention his name. 

Q. Will you swear, that what her relations brought to 
Saer was always delivered to her ?— A. Yes ; before myself. 



Q. Were her relations, after the declarations were lakeri> 
never refused access to her at proper hours? — A. No, never: 
they saw her when they chose. 

The Honorable St. Hilaire Begorrat, on Oath. 

Q. Describe to the Court what the^ picket was? 1 — A. A 
small piece of wood, of about five or six inches long, and 
about one inch or one inch and a quarter square on the top> 
iked to the floor; 

Q. Was it pointed or square on the top? — A. It was about 
an inch, or an inch and a quarter square on the top. 

Q. Did you deem Louisa Gald'er 'Oh *s fainting} or appear 3 * 
ing to faint, to proceed from excess of suffering, or from affec- 
tation?— A. By her obstinate conduct in all the business > 
end after I gave her a glass ofzeine and water, she recovered 
immediately, and therefore I think it proceeded from affec- 
tation ; and because, tzco days afterwards^ I ordered agene± 
ral confrontation between her, Carlos, and all the zcit- 
nesses, on the very spot where the robbery zoas committed, 
and she zoalkedfrom the gaol to the spot, a distance of about 
fifteen hundred paces > and afterwards returned to the gaol, 
as if she had not suffered the torture; and whilst on the spot> 
she shewed how Carlos had taken the trunk, brought it to 
the door, and broke the padlock and took away the money t 
she smoaking a segar all the while. 

Q. Did she require the assistance of a physician or sur- 
geon after either of the picketings? — A. No. 

v Don Francisco de Farfan, on Oath* 

Q. Were you not the Alcalde of the first election^ in the 
criminal prosecution against Louisa Calderon ; and for how 
long a time did you officiate therein? — A. I was Alcalde of 
the first election, and officiated as such in the business of 
Louisa Calderon, from the 1st January, 1802, and con- 
tinued the process until the proofs were completed, and thea 
transferred it to the superior tribunal. 

Q. Did you see Louisa Calderon at the time of her being 



S3 

picketed, or at any other time ? — A. I did not see her at the 
time of her being picketed, but I saw her eight or ten days 
afterwards. 

Q. Did she appear sick or lame? — A. No; she had no 
marks. 

Q. Did she complain to you of her being too rigorously 
confined, or ill treated by the gaoler, or did she ever apply 
for medical aid? — A. Never; on the contrary, the wife of 
Carlos Gonzales complained to them that Louisa Calderon 
was at large in the gaol, while her husband was close con- 
fined. 

Q. Was Louisa Calderon in irons when you saw her ? — A. 
She had a kind of iron in which she could stand and sit, but 
which could no ways molest her : I believe that iron was only 
put on when I visited her. 

Q. Was that iron fastened to the floor? — A. I did not 
examine ; I found her sitting, and the iron appeared to be 
secure. 

Q. Could she take exercise about the room?-— A. I have 
already said, I could not answer. 

Q. Had she, both times you saw her, irons on ? — A. Yes, 
I always found her in the same situation. 

Q. Will you swear that she was fastened, by those irons, 
to the spot in which she was sitting? — A. I have already an- 
swered, that I did not examine her situation. 



No. V.- 

Proceedings of the Commissioners and Council in 
consequence of Mr. Black's Declaration. 

First, Upon motion made and seconded. Resolved — That 
the First Commissioner, Colonel William Fullarton, in tak- 
ing possession of the criminal records deposited in the of- 
fice of Francisco de Castro, (a Public Scrivener, and Regi- 
dor of Cabildo,) one of the public Archives of this colony, 
without the knowledge and consent of Brigadier General 
Picton and Commodore Hood, (as declared by them at this 
board,) both being present in the government, and without 
giving a receipt or specific acknowledgment for the same^ 
Has acted contrary to his duty to His majesty, who ap- 
pointed him joint Governor, and not sole Governor of Trin- 
idad : v 

Resolved — That the said Colonel William Fullarton 
has, in the opinion of this Board, for the above reason, 
acted in breach of duty to his colleagues in the government o£ 
this colony : 

Resolved — That the said Colonel William Fullarton- 
has, in the opinion of this Board, for the above reasons,, 
also treated the Council with contempt and insult, because, at 
its meeting of the seventeenth day of March, the following 
motion was made and carried, Colonel William Fullarton 
presiding, and of which he could not plead ignorance ; to 
wit : " As the First Commissioner's paper, No. 4, con- 
Ci tains insinuations of a most insidious nature, calculated 
fC to impress His Majesty's Ministers with opinions in- 
(C jurious to the government, at the head of which 
s< the Brigadier presided during dangerous and perilous 
<c times, he thinks it his duty to move, That the Alcaldes in 



35 

(i Ordinary be called upon to produce copies of all the crim- 
" inal proceedings that have been carried on in their respec- 
(e tive offices since the 1st day of March 1797; and that 
" they be remitted by the Clerk of the Council to the of- 
fc flee of his Majesty's Secretary of State., the Right Hon. 
<( Lord Hobart ; " And these aggravations this Board con- 
ceives to be the greater, as Colonel William ■ Fullarton put 
himself in the situation of public informer, and denouncer, 
against the whole military and civil authority of the late go- 
vernment of this colony ; and it is the first time this Board 
ever learnt that an accuser was to zorest the strongest means 
of defence out of the hands of the accused (which these 
public records must be supposed) and to vest them exclusively 
in his own : 

Re solved — That the conduct of the First Commis- 
sioner, Colonel William Fullarton, in the house of the 
Honourable John Black, Alcalde of the First Election, in the 
evening of Monday last, in the manner just read and stated 
before this Board, was guilty, in their opinion, of an insult 
to the Board of Council, who had recommended proceedings 
against the said Francisco de Castro for breach of public du- 
ty, and an outrage of the most violent kind against the 
laws ; as the persons and houses of all Magistrates are, or 
ought to be, deemed sacred, and prisoners once in legal 
custody never attempted to be rescued, but suffered to remain 
until discharged by due course of law : 

Resolved — That Colonel William Fullarton, by no- 
minating Francis de Castro (when a prisoner in legal custody 
for a breach of public duty on the evening of Monday last) 
to the honorable and coniidencial post of Commissary of 
Population, in the room of Major Williamson, as proved 
by the declaration of Mr. Black, lost all respect for his col- 
leagues, for this Board, and for this colony : 

Resolved — That Brigadier General Picton and Com- 
modore Hood be requested to give out in public orders, that 

c 2 



36 

the military attend to the calls of the Magistrates, Command- 
ants of Quarters, and Alcaldes, whose houses may be enter- 
ed against their consent, their persons insulted, and their 
authorities attempted to be weakened or brought into con> 
tempt. 

Resolved— -That the First Commissioner's application 
to this Board, soon after his arrival, for the establishment of 
a schooner to serve in the Surveyor-General's department, 
(although two brigs were sent out by Government, and of- 
fered by Commodore Hood for that service, was, on the 
ground of the excessive expence it would incur, and little u- 
tility to accrue from it, rejected ; That the same application 
having been afterwards made, for the same reasons was again 
rejected ; and the schooner Start, in both instances propo- 
sed, being now hired, affords just reason to this Board to sus- 
pect, that the First Commissioners design, in making such 
applications y xcas to impose fictions on this Board, to effect 
his present purpose' of deserting his post in the saidschoonev 
Start, and concealing the public records: 

Resolved — That His Majesty's First Commissioner, by 
CONNECTING HIMSELF WITH THE DISAFFEC- 
TED CHARACTERS AND CLASSES OF INHABI- 
TANTS INIMICAL TO THE FORMER GOVERN- 
MENT, hath produced the effects such conduct was calcula- 
ted to promote ; for this Board views with sorrow and indig- 
nation, that a spirit of party and faction is kindling among the 
white inhabitants of all nations and languages ; that the legal 
authority of the master over the slave is weakened ; that mu- 
tinous ideas are excited in the minds of the numerous bands 
of free coloured people, who, by steady government and vigi- 
lance, particularly immediately before his administration, were 
tranquil, loyal and happy. That the authority of the Com- 
mandants of Quarters is brought into contempt and insult, and 
the whole Civil and Criminal Administration committed to 
their charge, with the v\ ise system of police established and 



37 

found efficacious for six years,, and even in time of war to 
keep good government, in the most imminent danger of being 
overset and extirpated. 

The Board having- taken into its serious consideration a 
retrospect of the whole conduct of the First Commissioner, 
Colonel William Fullarton, since he has been in the exercise 
of this government, and compared it with the present deser 
tion of his post, withdrawing from the Commission, and 
the Council, enlevement of the public records, and the 
contempt with which official requests to produce these 
records, or to inform where they are deposited, have been 
treated, 

Resolved— That he, the First Commisioner, hus lost the 
confidence of this Board, and that these resolutions, zcith all 
respect and humility, he laid before Ft is Majesty, together zviih 
all the Minutes of Council, instead of the proposed Address, 
and that His Majesty s Ministers be humbly prayed to advise 
His Majesty to remove him for ever from the government of 
this colony 

No. VI. 

Fall Mall November, 13. 18Q4. 
My Dear General, 

HAVING lately perused some observations from the pen 
of Mr. Fullarton, in a letter addressed to Lord Hobart, da- 
ted March last, which are designed to reject on your military 
dispositions at Trinidad, at the time when General Grinfield 
inspected that garrison in the beginning of the year 1803, it 
is but justice to declare//^ not only facts are misrepresented, 
but such ill-founded asserstions are adduced, as must subject 
the writer to the heavy charge of a breach of veracity. 

It is very far from my intention to note the particular oc- 
currences which transpired during General Grinfleld's resi- 
<d€uce at Trinidad, but in respect to the mal-arrangement 



38 

imputed to yoiii, which induced the " constant vociferation of 
" the Commander of the Forces on the parade, in the 
ec barracks, ana] in the hospitals" I shall not deviate an 
iota from the path of truth, when I avow, that so far from 
any difference of opinion existing between General Grinfield 
and yourself on military points, either " on the parade, in the 
" barracks, or in the hospitals," the utmost harmony of sen- 
timent prevailed, and continued unalterably to exist between 
you : indeed I well remember, in private societies, such opi- 
nions to have been entertained and expressed by him. 

Respecting the awkward performances of the troops in 
receiving General Grinfield on his landing at Trinidad, 
I recollect that part of a Black regiment wheeled by sections 
instead of divisions ; which mistake was immediately cor- 
rected by yourself; but I never heard of the exclamations 
attributed to one of General Grinfield's suite, " That these 
(< troops are twenty years behind." 

General Grinfield remained on the island of Trinidad for 
the space of three weeks, and for the first week accepted Mr. 
Fullar ton's offer of accommodation in the house of the First 
Commissioner. Although he had every reason to be pleased 
with the hospitality of the entertainment, yet frequent inter- 
ruptions to official business, and a disposition on the part of 
Mr. Fullarton to enter argumentatively into the progress and 
circumstances of the quarrel between yourself and him, 
resolved the General to leave Mr. FullartWs house, and 
take up his abode at the inn, where he continued till the 
period of his embarkation. Mr. Fullarton at that time pre- 
sented the papers, alluded to, containing copies of the discus- 
sion respecting Madame du Val and Mr. Woodyear. 

From the assertions of Mr. Fullarton, ec that he had pur- 
<c posely avoided saying any thing to General Grinfield that 
" might rouse him against you," I cannot but suppose that he 
has 'purposely forgotten a long private conference which took 
place between General Grinfield and himself on his arrival 






39 

at Barhadoes from England; and from the subsequent and 
mmediate declaration of General Grinfield, that, u appre-< 
(< hending a disagreement between Mr. Fullarton and Briga- 
<c dier General Picton, he would take care to steer clear of 
* ( all disputes not military," it is natural to infer, that argu- 
ments had not been wanting to prepossess General Grinfield 
with an unfavourable opinion of your conduct and actions. 

Actuated by no other principle but that of justice, I have 
committed to paper this simple narrative ; as, from my situa- 
tion in the West Indies, I had every opportunity of judging of 
the facts above alluded to ; and if my testimony can in any 
way be serviceable to you in correcting mis-statements, and 
refuting calumny, I shall be most happy in discharging such 
duties. 

Believe me, with esteem, 

Yours very truly, 

E. Draper. 

No. VII. 

Copy of a Letter from Brigadier General Maitland to 
General Picton. 

Dear Picton, Barhadoes, August 24, 1804. 

I HAVE seen an assertion in a late publication, that 
I obtained the government of Trinidad for you. It appears 
also, that you have publickly sjaid, that it was offered to 
you. 

On my part I declare, that you were not indebted for that 
appointment to any interest which I made with Sir Ralph 
Abercromby, for I made none to that end. 

The observation that your knowledge of the Spanish lan- 
guage was a peculiar advantage to you in that situation, 
I certainly have frequently made, and I believe did make 
about the time of your appointment. But whether I made 



40 

this remark to Sir Ralph or not, (which at this distance of 
time I can neither affirm or deny), of this I am clear., that I 
made no interest to obtain the government for you. 

When it is known that you were in Sir Ralph's suite, 
(though you held no situation, you lived in his .family,) from 
January 1796 until your appointment at Trinidad, within 
which period you made two voyages with him, in His 
Majesty's ship Arethusa, Captain Wolley, the one from the 
West Indies to England, the other from England to the 
W T est Indies ; that during these voyages you (I may say we) 
lived, and even slept, in the same cabin with the General > 
I am persuaded that no person will hesitate to acknowledge, 
that the General had a thorough opportunity to form his own 
judgment of you, and that from his opinion, thence formed, 
is evidently traced the cause which led him to appoint you to 
be Commandant at Trinidad ; for, if this be not just, then it 
follows, either that he had formed no opinion of you at all, or 
that he appointed you contrary to his own opinion; which,, 
when applied to the actions of Sir Ralph Abercromby, 
I believe every body will say, in the language of geometricians 
—is absurd. 

J am always, my dear Picton, 

Yours, with the greatest regard, 

Frederick Maitland. 

Colonel Thomas Picton. 



No. VIII. 

Centaur } Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, \st September 
my lord, 1804. 

I SHOULD do great injustice to myself and my late col- 
league, Brigadier General Picton, if I did not (after reading a 
publication of Mr. Fullarton's respecting the Commission at 
Trinidad last year) inform your Lordship, at an early period, 
of the fabrication in various passages said to have been 



41 

spoken by me. The very harsh expressions, and the acri- 
mony with which Mr. Fullarton brings forward this epistle, 
FALSE ALMOST IN EVERY PAGE, that I trust 
your Lordship, and others of His Majesty's Ministers, 
will view it as it deserves. Mr. Fullarton states my con- 
sulting the Brigadier before Council was assembled of 
the matters we were to enter upon : i" declare upon mine 
honor no such communication ever took place ; neither did 
ever the Brigadier make use of one expression out of the 
Commission that could tend to lead me on his side ; but 
I was guided by honorable sentiments, and not by such 
duplicity and intriguing as zcas exhibited in every part of 
Mr. Fullarton s transactions ; but Mr. Fullarton used every 
art even to get his lady to aid, to lead me into a track that 
must have soon destroyed the tranquillity of the colony. 
This false philanthropy must now be sufficiently brought to 
light, that it needs no comment. He attributes words spoken 
in council, in my house, in not agreeing with my colleague : 
I give the most perfect contradiction thereto ; and I cannot 
allow this to pass over without remarking on the means 
adopted by persons whom he calls Gentlemen, that should 
listen to any conversation where their business did not 
require, and it was not probable my servants should listen, 
and carry my conversation to the house of the First Commis- 
sioner ; and I conceive such allegations can only tend to prove 
how ready Mr. Fullarton has been to catch at subjects I should 
shudder to repeat, had I made use of such ignoble means to 
gain the information stated. I will not trespass longer on 
your Lordship's time ; and I shall conclude this in saying, 
the upright and just measures adopted by the late Governor 
saved the island ; and I rest assured his character cannot be 
spoken of too highly, or traduced by the artful measures of 
an old intriguing politician. 

I have the honour to be, &c. 

. Samuel Hood. 
Earl Cam Jen, K. B t &c. &c. 



42 



No, IX. , 

Extract from the Address of His Majesty s Council of the 
Island of Trinidad, to His Excellency the Lieutenant 
Governor, Thomas Hislop, Esq, 

WE, His Majesty's Council of the said Island of Trinidad, 
beg leave to assure your Excellency, that we have seen with 
just concern an attempt made to interrupt the peace and tran- 
quillity of the colony, by assertions advanced in a pamphlet 
written by Colonel Fullarton, and by him forwarded to your 
Excellency. We have, in a Committee of the whole Board, 
resolved them to be libels on your Excellency, and meant to 
throw reflections upon the present Government and the Mem- 
bers of His Majesty's Council, and to sow discord, disunion, 
and mistrust among them, &c. &c. ■ 

(Signed) Hon. J. Rutherford. 

Hon. John Smith. - 

Hon. J. Rigby. 

Hon. John Nihell. 

Hon. St. Hilaire Begorrat. 

Hon. Archibald Gloster. 

Extract from the Anszcer of His Excellency the Lieute- 
nant Governor to the foregoing Part of the Council's 
Address. 

Gentlemen, 
I beg leave to offer you my warmest and most grateful 
acknowledgments for the very flattering and kind address with 
which you have been pleased to honor me ; and you may be 
assured, that it is with no less concern that I have seen an 
attempt made to interrupt the peace and tranquillity of the 
colony, by assertions advanced by Colonel Fullarton, one of 
which was transmitted to me by his directions. 



43 

The resolutions which your Board have thought proper 
unanimously to adopt on the occasion, cannot fail to stand 
recorded on a basis the most impartial, and must be to the 
world convincing of the pure and honorable motives that 
have actuated you in the steps you have deemed necessary to 
adopt to refute unmerited calumnies, and most effectually to 
adopt the possibility of introducing the seeds of discord, dis- 
union, and distrust in the colony; which, through the never- 
ceasing determination which you, individually as well as col- 
lectivelv, have manifested for the maintenance of union of 
action and sentiment in the discharge of your public duties, 
as well as in your private capacities, has hitherto maintained 
its rightful authority with requisite energy, and is thereby 
capable of resisting every species of attempt which can in 
future be invented to shake it, &c. &c. 

Thos. Hislop, 
Lieut. Governor. 



No. X. 

Sir, London, October 1st, 1S05. 

HAVING had the honour of serving under your command 
in the island of Trinidad in the year 1798 and 1799.? periods 
the most critical, during which your vigilance, activity, and 
wise measures, preserved that valuable colony, I could not 
help reading, with the utmost astonishment and surprise, 
<e A Statement of Letters and Documents respecting the 
(< Affairs of Trinidad, &c. &c." I must declare the same in 
one particular instance to be " a statement of the most base 
e{ and malicious falsehood," and firmly persuade myself that, 
after a just and candid investigation, the whole will appear in 
its true merits, as having been brought forward purposely to 
create amongst an ignorant public an unfavourable impression 
concerning your acts of government, which unquestionably will 
stand the most rigid ordeal. 



I allude to No. LXXXIII. Colonel Fullarton's Answer to 
Colonel Picton's Address, page 172, where it is said, 

" The various expeditions against Guiria — Point a 
ee Pierre, Carupano — on the river Guarapuchy — were merely 
* ( predatory enterprizes to procure mules and cattle, and 
t{ to punish individuals who had incurred Colonel Picton's 
" resentment." 

Also page 11, in a note : — ■ 

" The chief object of these expeditions was to plunder 
u cattle from the inoffending inhabitants, for his own emolu- 
(< ment." 

I have been the officer whom you ordered to embark with 
a detachment of an hundred men, i( to disperse several armed 
ee bodies collected and assembling on the opposite coasts of 
ss the gulph, at Guiria, the river Guarapuchy, 6cc. &c." 

I sailed on board of His Majesty's ship Invincible, Captain 
Cayley, m company with His Majesty's sloop Zephyr, Captain 
Champain ; my instructions ordering to disperse all armed 
bodies along the coast, assembled for the purpose of invasion, 
and of preventing Spanish launches to proceed to port of 
Spain ; enjoined the strictest attention to order and discipline, 
and to cultivate the good will of the inhabitants along the 
coast ; and I do hereby most solemnly declare, that not the 
least act of depredation or irregularity has been committed by 
this expedition, which effected several landings along the 
coast. The first disembarkation which took place at Guiria 
was made with all necessary precautions, not knowing what 
resistance we should meet with. Captain Cayley was even so 
obliging to order a party of marines to proceed with me on 
shore. Finding, however, the enemy dispersed, and the 
inhabitants coming in crowds to receive us as friends, the 
troops were reimbarked the very same evening, and in our 
subsequent visits on shore we were only attended by small 
parties of about fifteen or twenty men. 

This, therefore, Sir, was no predatory enterprise ; on the 



45 

contrary, it was undertaken, as all others, for the protection of 
a very valuable trade with the Spanish Main, and for the secu- 
rity of the island of Trinidad. 

I forbear saying more ; regretting much the worthy Cap- 
tain then commanding His Majesty's ship Invincible being 
dead, and therefore not to be referred to on the occasion. I 
am convinced that the respectable naval officers under whose 
protection, assistance, and direction, these expeditions did sail. 
Captain Champain, Captain Dickson, &c. Major Laureal 
of the 15th West India regiment, Captain Frauchessin of 
Sir Charles Green's light infantry volunteers, will all concur 
with me in declaring it " a base and malicious falsehood," 
when it is asserted that their chief object was plunder and de- 
predation. 

I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, 

Sir, 

Your very faithful and obedient servant, 

Ls. Mosheim, 

Ueuten-aut Colonel. 
Colonel Thomas Picton, &c. &c. 

21, Edward- street. 



No. XI. 

Inconstant, Spithead, 4th Dec. 1804. 
My dear Sir, 

I HAVE received your letter inclosing Colonel Fullartons 
extract, and should have answered it immediately, but waited 
to see the letter you mentioned, having sent by Captain Max- 
well, who is not yet come this way. 

With respect to the extract in question, it is notoriously 
false. I never went on any predatory enterprises whatever': 
those undertaken by your orders, and executed by me, were 
for the sole purpose of destroying French privateers and 
bodies of brigands, who had taken post oa the Spanish Main, 



48 

and threatened the destruction of the island of Trinidad ; and 
I trust my public letter to Aditivral Harvey, of the 6th of 
December 1798, stating tix? account of the expeditions to 
Rio, Caribe, and Carupano, which you will see in the Naval 
Chronicle for that month, printed for I. Gold, Shoe-lane^ 
London, will refute most fully his assertion. I have 
enclosed you a copy of the proclamation I sent to the Com- 
mandants of Rio, Caribe, and Carupano, which is another 
strong proof that our mission was not to plunder or bring off 
cattle, either for ourselves or your estates ; and I am per 7 
suaded, that Colonel Mosheim, Major Laurial, and Captain 
Champain, will feel equally indignant with ourselves at so 
gross a misrepresentation of the motives which guided us on 
those expeditions. And be assured, my good Sir, it affords 
nie great satisfaction to have it in my power to enable, you 
thus publicly to contradict insinuations suggested solely to 
poison the public mind. With respect to the sentiments of 
the inhabitants of the Spanish Main towards you, I can say., 
with great truth, wherever I had an opportunity of communi- 
cating with them, they expressed the highest veneration for 
your character, and placed the greatest confidence in your 
government, 

I am, my dear Sir, 

Yours very sincerely, 

E. S. Dickson, 

/ Captain R. N. 

No. XII. 

DearPicton, Dover, Nov. <24, 1804. 

I AM favoured with your letter of yesterday, and I 
received the parcel the day before. 

Be assured, my dear Sir, I shall at all times have great- 
pleasure in bearing testimony to your very honorable conduct 
the whole of the time I had the pleasure of acting in conjimc- 



47 

lion with 3*011, as senior officer of His Majesty's ships and ves- 
sels in the gulph of Paria. 

I do not recollect any expeditions to the Main, or the 
different places mentioned in Mr. Fullarton's publication 
(page 172), except one to the Main, the name of the place I 
forget, (and I have not my log-book here to refer to) \ the 
object of which was, to deter the Commandant of the place 
we went to from molesting the Spanish launches coming to 
trade at Trinidad ; and so perfectly satisfied was he with 
our conduct, that he came on board the Dictator and dinetl 
with me, and promised in future to give the trade all the 
assistance in his power • and I will positively assert, that 
na man durst have hinted an idea of plunder, peculation^ ov 
dishonourable conduct, to either of us. 

I hope to be able to come to town shortly after Christmas., 
when I shall have great pleasure in assuring you of my most 
perfect respect and esteem. 

Faithfully yours, 

M. Western, 

Colonel Picton, &c. . Captain R. N; 

No. XIIL . 

My dear Sir, 

IN perusing Colonel Fullarton's publication relating to 
certain transactions in the island of Trinidad during your 
government, I cannot, as an officer who then held a con- 
siderable time the command of one of His Majesty's sloops 
on that station, help expressing that indignation I must 
naturally feel at the very malicious aspersions with which that 
gentleman has thought proper to stigmatize the conduct of. the 
naval officers during that period. 

The reasons for which he has introduced in his work this 
calumny, of predatory excursions being undertaken for pri- 
vate purposes, and particularly to obtain negroes for the 



4S 

Governor of Trinidad's estates,, is foreign to the purpose* 
But so serious an imputation cannot be passed over ii> 
silence ; indeed it behoves every one against whom this 
accusation is brought to vindicate himself; and as that is 
the sole object of this address, you will make that use 
of it you may deem most advisable to that end. 

Mr. Fullartoh must know, that every atom of what he 
has above asserted respecting the navy is, as I nozo declare 
it to he j perfectly false. Though the ships and vessels of war 
were under the command of Captain E. S. Dickson, we were 
both on service to the Spanish Main, but not for the purpose 
of committing depredation ; but we seeked the noble employ 
of the search and destruction of a miscreant foe, yet well 
known in the West Indies as brigands, who were posted in 
parts of the Spanish Main, to render, in that precarious time, 
as much distress to the colony of Trinidad as possible ; and 
but for the excellent look-out upon their plans, much 
mischief might have ensued to the colony ; and on no 
other account have I received any other orders respecting 
this service ; nor were any slaves or cattle taken by me 
as asserted ; if they were, my present declaration would 
fall to the ground, as a reference to the ship's journals would 
establish the point as well as living testimony, i believe, my 
dear Sir, you had at that time no landed property in the 
island; and if you had, I am convinced, from our long 
acquaintance and your well established honest integrity, 
you are one of the last, I should conceive, who could have 
admitted a thought of stocking your lands by such means. 
Captain Dickson, Major Mosheim, and myself, must spurn 
at these base insinuations. With long and faithful regard to 
your eminent services and faithful friendship, 
I am, my dear Sir, 

Your most assured friend, 

Wm. Champain, 
Jason, Woolwich, Dec. 28th, 1804. Captain E. N. 

To Colonel Picton, &c. 



49 • 
No. XIV. 

M'Callums (" author of Travels in Trinidad,") Case: 

« If Mr. J. P. M'Callum, author of Travels in Trinidad,. 
i{ does not, within fourteen days from the date hereof, fetch 
iC away the few effects he has left at No. 40, Suffolk-street, 
ee Charing-cross, they will be sold as part payment of his 
f rent, and legal steps taken to recover the remainder." 

The above Advertisement is extracted from the Globe 
newspaper of the 11th April 1806; on seeing it, I imme- 
diately called at the house, and found that this fellow had sud- 
denly disappeared, owing a considerable sum to a respectable 
couple, who lived by letting their house in lodgings. 

This vagrant has exhibited himself so conspicuously in the 
affair of Colonel Picton, that I shall assign him among the 
three worthies with whom I have here associated him, the 
first place, as I have done before with his friend Mr. Princi- 
pal Fullarton. 

Extracted from the Minutes of Council. 

Trinidad. — At a Meeting of the Council at the resi- 
dence of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, in the town of Port 
St. Joseph, on Thursday the 14th April/ 1803. 

Present, 

4, 1X . _ .. . ^B. G. Thomas Picton. 

1 heir Excellencies, < ; TT 

(Commodore bamuel Hood. 

!John Black. 
Hilario Begorrat. 
Archibald Gloster. 
Jos. M. Woodyear. 
,The Minutes of the preceding Meeting being read and 
approved, 

Copy of a Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Grant, of the 
Royal Trinidad Militia, addressed to their Excellencies the 
Commissioners. 
Gentlemen, 
u As Commanding Officer of the Royal Trinidad Militia, 



/ ■ t 50 

" I think it my duty to state to your Excellencies, that in 
" consequence of certain expressions made use of by a gen- 
(< tleman of this town, named M'Caihrai, as to the right of 
" your Excellencies turning out the militia, a considerable 
" ferment exists in the corps, and it has been repeated to 
" me, that some gentlemen have in consequence, positively 
" refused to turn out. As similar expressions were made 
u use of by this gentleman before the committee of officers, 
ee who sit weekly, to order absentees to be fined, or brought 
" before thein, I beg leave to refer your Excellencies for 
" particulars to those gentlemen, who are, Captain liar- 
u rison, and Lieutenants Fisher and M'Namara. 

iC With an assurance, that nothing but a sense of duty 
u could have induced me to trouble you on this occasion, 
<c I have the honor to be, 
(S Gentlemen, 

u Your most obliged humble servant, 
li Charles Grant, 

" Lieutenant Colonel, R. T. M. w . 

*• P. S. ic M'Callum has never joined the corps ; his ex- 
<( cuse, as sent to me, I beg leave to inclose. This excuse 
" contained in the foregoing letter, is, Mr. M'Callum, as a 
c< traveller, is going round the island by order of Colonel 
" Fullarton; he expects to sail on Friday, considers himself 
<c as a stranger and a traveller in the island, and that he has 
" not enrolled himself in the militia : if he were a resident 
n would join the regiment. 

"" Then follow the affidavits of Captain William Harrison, 
1 6 and Lieutenants Fisher and M f Namara, sworn before their 
(l Excellencies the Commissioners. I shall extract the 
u principal contents. 

(c They swea^, <c that one Peter M'Callum appeared be- 
<c fore the said Committee, and declared that Governor Pic- 
<( ton could not oblige any person to turn out in the militia. 



si 4 

K< and that the proclamation respecting the militia, was 
Xi founded on injustice; that if the Committee intended to 
(< make a Star Chamber business of it, and that if either 
" party intended to oppress him, they would find him a bit- 
" ter enemy ; that as tyranny and oppression had been the 
" rilling order of the day, he expected his share of it, &c* 
" &c. 

" James Bourke, merchant, also ■ swears, that Peter 
U M'Callum advised him not to turn out in the militia, and 
" if they attempted to levy a fine, to allow them to take it 
" out of his store. 

" Robert Brunton, Adjutant of said militia, swears, that 
" Peter M Galium said, that the Commissioners had no 
<c power to call out the militia, and that he had it from 
f Colonel Fullarton. 

" William Wane, Serjeant, swears, that M'Callum said 
€c to him, that if there were any attempt made to force him 
fC to turn out in the militia, that he should repel it, and shoot 
f{ the first man who attempted to lay hands on him. 

" William Stephens, Lieutenant, swears, that he fre- 
'** quently heard M'Callum declare, that the militia was a 
" self-constituted body, and there existed no power in the 
u Government of this island to embody a militia, and that 
" no Commission in it was worth a farthing. 

<c All these persons pointed out M'Callum, who was 
" present, and swore to his person. 

u Then follows the examination of M' Galium, before 
" the Commissioners, Colonel Picton, and Commodore Sir 
<e Samuel Hood." 

His conduct and answers to the interrogatories put to 
him, are of so impertinent and insolent a nature, that I 
shall not trouble myself, or my reader, by inserting them. 
I hasten to the -order of their Excellencies, for shipping 
him off the island. 

4 * Their Excellencies came to a resolution to ship P, 

d 2 



% 52 

" M'Callum for New York, as a dangerous person, who had 
**- attempted to seduce from their duty the militia of the 
** colony, and for other seditious practices. 

** Ordered, that he be sent away in the Schooner Aspasia, 
" Captain Edward Kingsland, for New York, and lhaX fifty- 
<c six dollars be paid, by an order on the Treasurer, to de- 
ge fray his expences. 

" J. M. WOODYEAR, . 

" Secretary of the Commission.*' 

No. XV. 

Dozding, the Mulatto's Case. 

*£he gentleman alluded to in page 0,59 is one Dowding, a 
mulatto, who arrived in Trinidad without the certificate of 
good conduct required from the Government he had last 
left ; he was allowed to remain a few days, to arrange some 
business which he pretended to have in Trinidad. A day or 
two afterwards he was convicted by the Alcalde of the Bar- 
rio, for an assault upon an old white gentleman. During his 
imprisonment on that account, an official letter arrived from 
the Attorney General of St. Vincent, representing him as an 
extremely dangerous subject, who had been convicted at the 
Great Sessions of St. Vincent, for sedition, and transported 
from the colony. It was in consequence signified to him, 
that he should not be at liberty to remain in the colony, but 
might leave his lodgings when he chose; and the gaoler, 
Vallot, had general directions to take out a pass from the 
Secretary's office, whenever he wished to make use of it; 
this he never would do, and voluntarily remained in prison 
for many months. I have placed him in the Appendix, be- 
tween his associates, George Augustus Hayes, Esq. Barris- 
ter at Laze, and Mr. M' Galium, " author of the Travels in 
Trinidad," who also voluntarily left Ms lodgings , No. 4£? 



53 • 

Suffolk-street, as appears by, the copy of the advertisement 
at the head of his case. 

Translated from the French. 
From the register of the Archive of the Sovereign Coun- 
cil of the island of Martinique, was extracted the judgment 
^vhich follows, of the 6th of March, 1800. 

Seen what results from the charges and informations of 
the preceding. Declares the said Dowding duly attainted, 
and convicted of having struck the Seur Beastale, in repara- 
tion of which, condemns Mm to be placed in the pillory 
daring one hour, in the public square, in the parish of. St. 
Peter's, and during one hour in that of the Mouiijage, in the 
said town, having before and behind a writing with these 

words Mulatto who struck a zohite man. 

Condemns him besides to banishment for nine years from 
this colony, enjoining him to conform to the Ban, under 
pain of incurring the punishment ordained by the laws, which 
■shall be explained to him. 

And conforming to the appeal of the Seur Beastale, con- 
demns the said William Dowding to pay to the said Seur 
Beastale, the sum of three thousand three hundred livres, by 
way of civil reparation. (Jut of which sum are to be paid 
the expences of the proceedings, and the printing of the pre- 
sent arret, and the surplus to be lodged with the administra- 
tors of the hospital for abandoned children, to whom the 
said Seur Beastale declares that he abandons it. 

Ordered, that this arret shall be printed^ to the number 
©f fifty copies, to be published and stuck up in all the parishes 
of the colony, under the directions of the Procureur du Roi. 
Charges the officers of the Senechausee of St. Peter's,, 
with the execution of this arret. 

Examined, Bartonille, Grif, 

Seen for the legalization of the signature of Mr. Barbo 
i^ille, sworn commissary Griffin cf the Court cf Appeal 



• 54 

Martinique ; and for the attestation that stamps and enregis* 
terment are not the usage of the colony. 

Given at the Fort of France, 22 Nivose, 13. 
Le Fecner Grangacy. 

The Grand Judge of Martinique, 
% order of the Grand Judge, 
Roach, fils. 



No. XVI. 

Case of Charles Augustus Hayes, Esq. called " Barrister at 
-Law/* in the return to the Mandamus issued from the 
Court of King's Bench, Trinidad. 

At a Meeting of his Majesty's Council, held at the house 
jof the Deputy Clerk of the Council, on Tuesday, the 24th 
day of September, 1805, conformable to adjournment. 

Present, 
His Excellency Brigadier General Hislop, Lieutenant 
Governor. 

"John Nihell. 
James Rigby. 
St. Hilaire Begorrat. 
John Smyth. 

The proceedings of the last Meeting being read and ap^- 
proved, 

The Board having taken into its most serious consideration, 
a letter signed by seven inhabitants of this town, addressed to 
the Commercial Committee, and the false and unqualified 
reflections on the Government, contained therein, as acknow- 
ledged on oath by the subscribers, and the dangerous ten- 
dency of the same, written with the view of disturbing the 
peace and tranquillity of the colony, and having fully and suf- 
ficiently proved by the examination of two witnesses^ on oath, 
that the said letter was" composed, and originally written by 



The Honorable 



55 w 

Charles Augustus Hayes,, and having also considered that the 
conduct and behaviour pf the said Charles Augustus Hayes, in 
several instances, has been directed and intended to misrepre- 
sent the proceedings of the Government, and thereby alienate 
the affections of the inhabitants, and the same being con- 
trary to the laws existing in this colony, which His Majesty 
in his royal wisdom has been pleased to order to remain and 
continue in full force, DO RESOLVE that the future residence 
of the said Charles Augustus Hayes, will be dangerous to the 
peace and tranquillity of the colony, and that he comes under 
the description of persons designated by the twenty-four arti- 
cles of instructions, addressed to the Commissioners for exe- 
cuting the office of Governor and Commander in Chief of 
the island, the powers contained in which commission and 
instructions are at present invested in his Excellency the 
Lieutenant Governor, by his commission under His Majes- 
ty's Sign Manual of May, 1 803, by which his Excellency 
js directed and instructed, to remove from the island any 
person, the continuance of whose residence in the island, 
may be found dangerous to the peace and security thereof, 
and this Board does therefore recommend to his Excellency, 
the Lieutenant Governor, immediately to deprive the said 
Charles Augustus Hayes of his license to practise in any 
of the Courts of the island, and to take such measures as 
lie may judge- necessary for his removal from the colony, 
and that in the mean time, he the said Charles Augustus 
Hayes be confined in the public gaol, until an opportunity 
be found, or that he shall find one himself, in order thereby 
$o deprive him of the means of again disturbing the tran- 
quillity and peace of the colony. 

TRINIDAD. 

Council Chamber, 24 September) 1805 f 

You are hereby required, conformable to a resolution of 

Council, this day to confine in the public gaol of this town, 



the person of Charles Augustus Hayes > and there keep him, 

until the said resolution of Council shall be complied with, 

A copy of which shall be furnished liim without delay, anc$ 

for so doing, this shall be your warrant. 

By Order of the Board. 

Wm. Holmes^ 

Deputy Clerk of the Council. 
To Hector M'Kenzie, Esq. 

J)tputy P, Marsf all, or his Assistant* 



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ERRATA, 



Page 5, line 23, dele for. 

39, 22, for islands, read island* 

56, ■ . S, dele and maintained. 

97, 17, for t, read it. 

103, ■ " ■■ 3, for quartosse, read quartos se, 

203, 23, for Mw/ata, read Mulatto. 

&56, — - 20, for rwns counter, reads mj« cornier t#» 



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